“Party On”

Chapter 6 examines how FOCUS works at the intersection of religious experience, Catholic exceptionalism, and millennial-generation cultural expectations to cultivate a collective dynamically orthodox Catholicism. At their large, national conferences, FOCUS relies on Catholicism’s sacramental imagination to make contemporary US Catholicism attractive to thousands of twenty-first-century college students. Through prayers, speakers, and peer pressure, this conference develops a community of Catholic millennials. The conferences also strive to cultivate a shared identity among attendees. FOCUS trains young adult Catholics to become dynamically orthodox Catholics who are conversant in their millennial culture, committed to following a strict interpretation of Catholic teachings, and excited to tell others about it.