Faith Warriors – Emma Hoffman
February 23, 2023
80% of the people who leave the Catholic faith do so by the age of 23. This is a statistic that Emma Hoffman, a 22 year-old parishioner of Resurrection and graduate of Mater Dei and Indiana University has witnessed first-hand. She noticed that of the group of Catholic students who also attended IU from our area, very few participated in Mass or other activities at school. She found a need to get more involved in her faith and eventually joined a college Bible study.
The Bible study introduced her to The Fellowship of Catholic University students, or FOCUS- “A Catholic collegiate outreach whose mission is to share hope and joy of the gospel with college and university students inspiring and equipping them for a lifetime of Christ-centered evangelization, discipleship, and friendships in which they lead others to do the same.”
After getting more involved in the Catholic community and becoming good friends with one of the FOCUS missionaries at IU, Emma began to feel a call on her heart for the life of prayer and evangelization that the missionaries were living. For at least the next 2 years, Emma will be one of 800 missionaries within FOCUS who are committed to helping students continue in their faith after they leave home and enter college, a time when most students walk away from the Faith. She has been placed at Grand Valley State University in Michigan starting this fall. FOCUS missionaries rely completely on the financial support of others for their living and mission expenses.
As each missionary serves for at least 2 years, monthly support is greatly helpful for missionaries. Emma leaves Evansville to move to Michigan July 31st and is still short about $500 of monthly support from her goal of being fully-funded. If you are interested in learning more about FOCUS or how you can support Emma in this important mission of the Church, she would love to schedule a phone call or meeting with you sometime this week. Emma can be reached at 812-453-3404 or emma.hoffman@focus.org.
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” Luke 10:2
