"Go Forward Bravely" | Shannon shares about SEEK25

“Go Forward Bravely.” 

This quote from Joan of Arc was shared and repeated to thousands of students, priests, religious, campus ministers, and families who attended this year’s SEEK25 conference. SEEK is a yearly conference hosted by FOCUS– Fellowship of Catholic University Students– and has grown to be a key event in the United States for Catholic young adults and those who walk with them. In a world that longs for peace, love, beauty, and truth, attendees are brought together to encounter Christ and then to “Go Forward Bravely” and invite others to walk with Him. 

While the talks and programs are organized by FOCUS, they invite hundreds of other ministries, organizations, and religious orders to participate. “Mission Way,” in particular, is a space for attendees to discover the wide range of religious vocations, service opportunities, and resources that are available. But for a long time, there were no ministries particularly for those with same-sex desires or gender discordances in the booth line-up. 

Enter: Two young co-founders in Eden Invitation t-shirts and pockets full of contact cards.

“Well, that was our first FOCUS conference.” 

Shannon, our Vice President and Co-founder, sat down with me to share her experiences representing Eden Invitation at these huge conferences.

“So Anna and I founded Eden Invitation on April 29th, 2017, and we went to the FOCUS conference in January of 2018 in Chicago– so no, it was not very long after we were founded.” 

“We just had passes to go as participants. No booth. We wore Eden Invitation shirts the whole time and gave so many people our cards, cause nobody knew who we were then. I remember we would be walking down the hallway, and try to meet the major speakers and give them our card and a 60-second elevator pitch. We were going nonstop at that conference!”

Since our founding, Eden Invitation has been present at 5 FOCUS conferences so far. “In 2019 and 2020 we had a booth and a volunteer to be with us most of the time…Then, in 2024, we brought a team of 4 staff members! That was such a huge blessing because work could be divided and staff could build connections and receive people both at the booth and away from it. ” 

(In our 2024 SEEK recap, I give a more moment-by-moment look into what it’s like to be at our booth with a larger team. You can read that recap here!)

This year though, to ensure other aspects of our day-to-day mission were covered, we went back to sending just our two plucky Co-Founders to be in the sea of 17,000 conference attendees.

“Resources-wise, we needed to focus on allocating that money elsewhere in our mission. Just sending two staff members to a conference like this can cost about $10,000.” Shannon shares. “But we also feel it is deeply important for Eden Invitation to be present at these conferences. We are missionaries in that space for people who have these LGBTQ+ experiences. I feel like this is one of the biggest topics people are wrestling with, and people are walking away from the church right now…Anna and I decided to go because of our versatility and experience in this area from those early conference experiences.”

“SEEK25 really did feel a little bit like the early days with Anna and I being back there, just us two, except this time we actually had a booth! And people knew who we were, and we knew what we were about.” When those basics are covered, you don’t need to spend time informing– you can just focus on receiving the person and ministering to them.

“Many groups have booths at these conferences because they’re trying to recruit or sell a product. We’re there to be a resource– so much of our work at FOCUS is literally sitting down and receiving people.”

“One unexpected blessing is that our booth was off in a corner this year. We jokingly called it the ‘sexuality corner’ because it was Magdala Ministries (small groups for women healing from sexual addictions), the Chastity Project, and us. At first, we were worried, like, will people be able to find us? But then we realized– maybe this was intentional. The people who were coming to us weren’t just people who happened to pass by– they were seeking us out. Being off in that corner, we could be more attentive to the people who came to us. And people felt, I think, a little safer because there was some discretion allowed– that they could open up because they weren't just standing in the middle of the room.”

“For example, there was a young man who came to me and shared that he was once an atheist and then had a conversion. He also experienced same-sex desires. He had just been in a talk, and something there had struck him– he wondered ‘I don't know if this church really sees me’ and questioned what his place was in this Church. He was really wrestling with this when he left the talk, then, turning the corner, saw our booth. He just started weeping– he was shocked to know that in his pursuit of faith and fidelity to the Lord, he could still be seen by someone in the Church in this part of his heart.”

While Anna and Shannon were limited in how many one-on-one encounters like this they could have, another blessing came to light not long after the conference started:

“A number of Eden Invitation community members attended the conference. Throughout our time there, some would come and sit by the booth. We could be that safe place to rest and be fully known maybe after they heard a challenging talk topic or just ‘be’ after a day of running around. But something else happened– when people came to us during busy times, our community members and friends would step up to receive stories and pray with people! It was so good to know that, even though it was just Anna and I there from our staff, there’s this new generation that's going out and receiving people and trying to be on mission for their brothers and sisters in the Church.”

“Moments like these show why it's so important for Eden Invitation to be there. We offer pastoral care born of our own experiences and a prophetic witness of what it can look like to surrender your life to the Lord and pursue Him amidst an LGBTQ experience. For the whole church–I think everybody needs that witness.” 

We are so blessed that we can continue sending staff to conferences like SEEK. Being exposed to such crowds can be intimidating, but God gives us the courage to “Go forward bravely.” He’s shown us the impact that one handshake, one prayer, one “oh, I’ve been there!” – one person can make. We are so grateful for each one of you who make a difference by covering our day-to-day costs throughout the year! And a special thank you to the donors who gave sacrificial one-time gifts to ensure we could send staff to SEEK25! We look forward to the new adventures God has waiting for our community and mission in 2025.