National SEEK conference, held Jan. 1-5 in Salt Lake City, inspires local Catholics in the faith

IC photo/Marie Mischel

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Participants of SEEK25, the national Catholic conference held at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City Jan. 1-5, enjoy the music between keynote speakers.

SALT LAKE CITY — More than 100 Utahns from 13 parishes and missions in the Diocese of Salt Lake City joined almost 17,000 other Catholics from across the country for SEEK25, which was held Jan. 1-5 in Salt Lake City at the Salt Palace Convention Center.

SEEK is a national Catholic conference sponsored by the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS). It began in 1999 and is now one of the largest Catholic events in the world, providing nationally known speakers, fellowship and opportunities for worship. This was the first year that it was held in Utah.

The 2025 event began with a Mass on Jan. 1 at which Bishop Oscar A. Solis presided. Father John Evans, vicar general; Father Kenneth Vialpando, vicar for clergy; and various priests of the diocese were among the 489 concelebrants. Deacon Kenneth Parsad, a seminarian for the Diocese of Salt Lake City, was a Deacon of the Mass; diocesan seminarian Michael Weight also assisted.

“The adventure of seeking is no stranger to Utah,” said Bishop Solis in his homily as he highlighted the historical significance of seekers in Utah, from indigenous tribes to early Catholic explorers and pioneers.

“What a great blessing from God for us to gather as a community of faith and members of the one Body of Christ as the world starts the new year,” Bishop Solis said as he welcomed participants to the conference. “I thank the FOCUS leaders for leading seekers to our Diocese of Salt Lake City as we continually seek to experience the loving and saving presence of God in our heart.”

Local Catholics who are used to being in a minority faith group welcomed the chance to worship alongside and interact with fellow faithful from more than 500 college campuses and 875 parishes across the United States. The experience was awe-inspiring, many of them said.

“It was utterly spectacular to see our bishop stand up and preach the Gospel to 10,000-plus Catholics as a bishop,” said Weight, a second-year student at Mount Angel Seminary in Bend, Ore. “He actually got to live out his vocation fully and I got to see Deacon Kenneth live out his vocation fully as a deacon. I was deeply, deeply moved.”

Rigo Tellez, a Weber State University student from Ogden, was impressed by the sheer number of fellow students who were committing their lives to God.

“Our Church – it’s much bigger than we could imagine,” he said. “I think a lot of us fall into this trap [of thinking] it’s just like the small little thing we do on Sundays, and that’s just all we do, but there’s just so much more richness to it.”

Over the five days SEEK25 participants had the opportunity to join daily liturgies, Eucharistic adoration and receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. They also heard profound messages from keynote speakers each day, such as that shared by keynote speaker Father Mike Schmitz of The Bible in a Year and Catechism in a Year podcasts.

Fr. Schmitz’s address was livestreamed to at least a dozen parishes in the diocese, which hosted events for those who were unable to attend the conference (see https://www.icatholic.org/article/livestream-night-at-local-parishes-offers-the-faithful-2021892)

God’s children need him no matter how often they, in their words and actions, ask him to leave them alone, said Fr. Schmitz, who was the keynote speaker on the second day of the conference. Through original sin all mankind inherits a brokenness that can only be overcome by Jesus Christ, he said. When people sin, they attempt to find happiness without God, but true happiness can only be found in him, Fr. Schmitz added.

Other keynote speakers included Monsignor James Shea, Dr. Edward Sri, Sister Josephine Garrett, CSFN, Arthur Brooks, Sister Mary Grace, SV and Jason Evert.

Conference participants were also instructed and inspired in their faith on the Making Missionary Disciples track by presenters ranging from Bishop Andrew Cozzens to Trent Horn. Bishop Cozzens is board chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress and a cradle Catholic, while Horn is a convert to the faith who is now a staff apologist for Catholic Answers. Collectively, the presenters explored the theme “Follow Me” in 42 impact sessions. Some sessions addressed issues that American society faces in the 21st century such as gender identity, sexual brokenness and social narcissism, drug use and the rise of Artificial Intelligence.

Other sessions focused on relationships: healing them when they are broken, accompaniment and the sanctity of life and of marriage. Still others provided tools that lay leaders could use in their home parishes with sessions on presenting the Gospel, teaching individuals to pray, building missionary disciples, leadership and the priesthood. Presenters also outlined what the Church has to offer today, how the Savior heals, loving your neighbor, the pure love of Christ, along with what the examples of the saints, the Virgin Mary, and the life of Christ can teach the faithful.