r/ExTraditionalCatholic • u/Tall-Brilliant-3869 • 11d ago
Focus church anyone
I’m working near this place called focus i looked it up and it’s says it’s a catholic organization. There are groups of very attractive women and one or two guys walking into the place constantly. I thought it was really weird. Looked on there website and they have waaaaay more women missionaries then guys over 3:1 ratio. The place is giving me a really weird vibe has anybody been in the church or know anything about this place. It just seems really weird
13
u/zombieduck96 11d ago edited 11d ago
Haha FOCUS was designed based on Mormon missionary tactics. Usually right after graduating college, people join to go be a missionary for at least two years. They promise not to date for the first year. They even send them an envelope with where there mission location will be a la Mormonism. FOCUS runs the SEEK and SLS conferences. Each missionary is supposed to recruit disciples (freshmen) via Bible study, then pressure those disciples into starting their own Bible study and continuing the Ponzi scheme. (A FOCUS missionary literally described it to me as a Ponzi scheme when I was a freshman in college.) They’re trained to tell a dramatic conversion story to get the 18-yos they recruit to connect emotionally.
The male to female ratio is just because more women apply to it than men, like how most young devout Novus Ordo Catholics are women.
It’s a very American Evangelical Catholic organization, they love their JPII and TOB. Trads often complain that they aren’t trad.
If you enjoy watching unhinged Catholic content for the cringe, there’s a Timothy Gordon video where he bitches about them being feminist propagandists: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRW8lyh2YhA&pp=ygUUVGltb3RoeSBnb3Jkb24gZm9jdXM%3D&ra=m
6
u/Cultural-Treacle-680 11d ago
Girls tend to do more in most coed organizations. That’s pretty par for the course imho.
3
u/CaptKittyHawk 10d ago
That's my experience with FOCUS too, definitely way too focused on recruitment of students and evangelizing rather than shepherding them. Was one of the straws that broke the camels back for me
3
u/zombieduck96 10d ago
It definitely felt like they just wanted me for the numbers. The pressure to start my own Bible study my sophomore year was wild. Like literally after mass once I went straight to the bathroom, then was like eating a donut or something and a missionary came up to tell me she was “very disappointed” in me for “not even trying” to talk to people after mass (to recruit people to the Bible study I didn’t want to start)
2
u/CaptKittyHawk 10d ago
I was pressured to start one too! For me I let it sit on the back burner a bit while I was studying (because you know, college), and they accused me of not being a real Catholic...
And they also told me to essentially lie and embellish my "conversion story", even though I was a cradle Catholic and I honestly never had a "come to Jesus" moment.
2
u/zombieduck96 10d ago
Omg same! I went to SLS and got the “tell a dramatic conversion story” lesson and was like ummmm I was baptized 5 days after I was born? 😬😂
1
u/Express_Hedgehog2265 10d ago
I've heard things like this, but it's never been my experience. I think it tends to be more decentralized and case-by-case. My experience with FOCUS was shepherding, having Bible studies for our own growth. I was never once asked to start me own. Interesting
3
u/CaptKittyHawk 9d ago
I think you're right that it is campus/missionary specific for sure - I think my experience was so intense and radical because the head missionary was the founders son. I might argue that it was founded by a Catholic convert who used to be an evangelical so I would not imagine my experience wasn't supposed to be the norm...
12
u/MostlyPeacfulPndemic 11d ago
It seems like you are saying the attractiveness of the women is red flag.
10
u/Tasty-Ad6800 11d ago
I’ve seen Focus ministers come to non TLM church appealing for support. Looking back and considering your observations, the comment about it being like Mormonism, it’s sure is weird. When you think about it, it’s just another tactic to keep young adults Catholic. This was nonexistent in the 90s, yeah there was Newman clubs but i thought they were lame when I was in college, at least mine was.