Five-day national Catholic conference coming to Salt Lake in January

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SALT LAKE CITY — Internationally known Catholic speakers, opportunities for faith formation, and fellowship with thousands of other Catholics are coming to Utah in January during SEEK25, helping local Catholics keep the flame of their faith alive.

In June 2023 more than 10,000 Utah Catholics gathered at the Mountain America Exposition Center for the Diocesan Eucharistic Mass and Rally. This September more than 800 participated in the daylong Utah Catholic Conference in Draper. Now, the faithful in Utah will have the opportunity to join thousands of Catholics from across the world at SEEK25, a weeklong conference for spiritual growth, prayer and fellowship organized by the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS).

SEEK25, which will be held at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City Jan. 1-5, will feature keynote speakers, workshops, breakout sessions, Confession, Mass, Adoration, entertainment and opportunities for community building. The conference will include offerings for adults in any stage of their faith journey, lay leaders, seminarians, bishops and parish priests as well as students in high school or college.

Each day will begin with Mass, then participants will have the opportunity to attend breakout sessions on a selection of 42 topics. There also will be renowned keynote speakers such as Father Mike Schmitz of the Bible in a Year Podcast; Monsignor James Shea, president of the University of Mary; Father Mark Mary Ames, director of communications for the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal; and Sister Miriam James, SOLT, cohost of the Abiding Together podcast.

 Every day, all attendees will gather for keynote addresses by priests, religious leaders and laypeople who with share the fundamental truths of the Gospel and their implications for people’s lives.

Although the annual SEEK conference often is perceived as being primarily for college students,  “SEEK has something for everyone; this is where the whole Church can gather,” said Tom Bruner, FOCUS vice president for formative enterprises. “We want to really present the Gospel over those five days. We want this to be about building the Church and building communities.”

The theme of the 2025 conference is “Follow Me.” Subthemes are relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church, evangelization and fellowship.

“When we picked the theme, it was during the time of Covid, when everyone was staying home and oftentimes being afraid to leave the house, being afraid to make an invitation, being afraid to maybe put ourselves outside of our comfort zone,” Bruner said. This year’s theme is “to really follow those words of Christ, who stepped outside of the boat, who went deep, who went and invited people who were scandalous even at the time and dined with them and invited them to follow him. That was the model we wanted to take.”

SEEK now offers additional tracks beyond its original focus on college-aged students because Catholics were asking for more, Bruner said. “People were asking, ‘How can I go deeper in my faith at these different stages of life, and how do I become a leader?’”

“That’s what’s wonderful about SEEK, is that they’ve realized that Catholics of all ages and stages of life love to attend these kinds of things and to continue to form their faith and come together as Catholics,” said Crystal Painter, director of the Diocese of Salt Lake City’s Office of Family Life, who is planning to attend the conference with her husband, mother and three children, one high schooler and two college students.

 “I think especially in Utah, you know, we’re such a small diocese, that it’s a great opportunity to come together as one faith,” she said. “I’m really excited about it.”

The SEEK conference is held in a different location each year. For the 2025 event, organizers chose Salt Lake City as the venue for its central western location and because local Catholics so enthusiastically asked for it to be held here, Bruner said. “The diocese was just so full of really convicted people when we had those conversations. They know their faith; they’re on fire.”

Organizers hope that the impact of this conference will be felt among the faithful for many years to come, Bruner said. “We want to make that investment in the local Catholic community, in the local diocese. We strive so hard to work with the local diocese at every step, to say, ‘Hey, we’re not coming in and having a big FOCUS conference; we’re going to have a big Catholic conference. We’re happy to put it on, but what does the diocese need?’”

The conference schedule includes entertainment by Forrest Frank, a Christian solo artist. There will also be a vendor hall with hundreds of booths with Catholic organizations.

The event will draw participants from across the United States and internationally. So far, more than 9,000 people have registered for the conference, Bruner said. “That’s a fantastic number; we’ve never had that many people signed up this far out.”

The 2025 event has a capacity of about 17,000; because of space constraints at the local venue, an ancillary event will be held in Washington, D.C. More than 18,000 attended the 2024 event, which was held in St. Louis.

“There’s just something so powerful when you see like 15,000 people gathered together for Mass and Adoration; when you see the Holy Spirit working through these priests, when you see hundreds of priests lined up to process into Mass in Salt Lake City, which is not known as this Catholic hotbed – what an amazing sight,” Bruner said.  ‘It really is something special.”

The cost for the entire conference is $425 for college students, $549 for adults; prices will increase by $50 after Oct. 29. Day passes are available beginning at $145. To register, visit https://seek.focus.org/general-registration/.

Volunteers are being sought for various roles at SEEK25. For each slot filled, the volunteer will receive $50 off the cost of the event pass up to $200 total discount. To sign up to volunteer, visit https://app.smartsheet.com/b/publish?EQBCT=aae3279fd4b749fcb5c8cfc3762d392f