Hello! My name is Emily, and I’m a FOCUS Missionary serving at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey!

I was raised Catholic and blessed with a strong foundation through my parish and attending Catholic school. However, I always viewed my faith as being more about checking off boxes and following the rules than it was about growing in my relationship with Jesus. This caused a lot of anxiety early in my life, but the Lord met me there and began to show me that His love goes far beyond my ability to “get it right”.

After a profound encounter with God’s love through His Church- particularly through the sacrament of Confession and Eucharistic adoration, I began to seek more time with Him and grow in trusting His plan for my life.

One day while I was praying in the chapel during my freshman year at the University of Maryland, I heard Jesus saying to me in my heart:

“Why are you acting like you have something to lose? You can’t lose Me”

Through this encounter with the Lord, and many more hours of prayer throughout my time as a student, I came to realize that His words to me here held a twofold meaning:

1) That I was to be bold in how I was sharing the faith with others, recognizing that everything I was scared of loosing could be found in Him.

2) That I was being called to detach my self-worth from my abilities and performance, and live my life in response to the freedom that comes from being a daughter of God.

Now as a Missionary, I desire to share the truth of God’s love and mercy with a generation of students who desperately need it, just like I do.

As a missionary, I made the decision to rely on the spiritual and financial support of mission partners just like you! You go on mission with me through your prayers and by freeing me to dedicate all of my time and energy to share the Gospel with college students and build them up as leaders in the church.

As is often said of missionary work:

“Some give by going. Others go by giving. Without both, there are no missions”

I am incredibly grateful to you for making this mission possible, and I am confident that God will use all that we give Him to build up His kingdom for eternity!