If you had told Tina Augustine that, in 2021, she would be living in Germany with her husband and two sons, serving as the Director of Philanthropy in Europe for FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students), she would have told you that you are crazy. Yet, in looking back on her eight years serving with FOCUS, she says “dreams have come true that I didn’t even know I had.”
Tina grew up in CT and was raised in a “traditional Catholic family” who belonged to St. Rose of Lima Parish in Newtown. “Neither of my parents are from CT, so we grew up away from our family,” she says. She and her family became connected with their community at St. Rose, where they made friendships. As Tina neared high school, she desired to get involved in the youth group at St. Rose. “These were such formative years for me as a teen,” she says. She attended Steubenville conferences (annual conferences for high school students organized by the Franciscan University of Steubenville) and made friendships that she still maintains today. “I had a really wonderful family and faith community, and I am filled with gratitude,” she says, in reflecting on the beginnings of her faith journey.
After high school, Tina attended college at the University of Connecticut (Storrs), where she studied Spanish Language Teacher Education. “When I got to college,” she says, “I realized that most people didn’t grow up with what I did. They didn’t have those amazing role models like I had in my youth group.” She experienced much suffering during her freshman year as she became adjusted to the stark difference between her rich high school experience and the seeming lack of faith on her college campus. “Nothing sparked me,” she says.
This was where FOCUS came in. In the fall of 2009, FOCUS missionaries arrived at UCONN’s campus. FOCUS is “a national outreach that meets college students where they are and invites them into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and the Catholic faith” (FOCUS Overview). They “send teams of missionaries (four on average) to college campuses and universities around the country to reach out to and meet college students, inviting them to examine the meaning and purpose of their lives” (FOCUS Overview). The missionaries are recent college graduates who are sent out to evangelize their peers for a two-year period on a college campus. They “host large group outreach events, lead weekly Bible studies, and offer one-on-one mentoring with student leaders” (FOCUS Overview). When the missionaries started at UCONN, Tina was “excited, but skeptical.” She wanted to get involved in what they were offering, but was reluctant to take the first step.
After studying abroad in Spain, Tina began asking questions about what she was called to do with her life, engaging in a period of self-discovery. It was then that she connected with the FOCUS missionaries and the community at the Catholic Center at UCONN. “I saw people who were giving their lives totally to the Lord,” she says. “The way they lived life was inspiring. You wanted to live like these people. The way they loved me, as a friend, was so freeing. There was something attractive about them and their lives.” It was this different kind of adult relationship that took Tina to the next level in her faith.
After being introduced to the FOCUS missionaries, Tina joined a Bible study, where she came to know her faith more deeply on an intellectual level. They taught her how to pray, and she began to “live a rhythm of prayer,” which included daily Mass during her senior year. The years in which she earned her master’s degree were especially formative, she says. It was during that time that the Sandy Hook School shooting happened. “There was a lot of suffering in my family and in my community,” she says. Her fellow classmates, comprising a variety of faith backgrounds, remarked that Tina’s faith got her through a time that “most people would not be able to survive.” She realized that, through her years of formation in the faith, “God was preparing me for this time, and I did not know it.”
So powerful was Tina’s encounter with the FOCUS missionaries that she decided not to become a Spanish teacher after graduation: she decided to become a missionary, herself. She was sent to the University of Texas at Austin, where she served for three years. It was during that time that she dated and became engaged to her future husband, Mychal, who was serving as a missionary at another campus. The two discerned whether God was calling them to continue living as missionaries after they were married. During this discernment, FOCUS asked them if they would move to Austria to start the first international FOCUS team. With great excitement and zeal, the couple said “yes” to this invitation and moved to Austria, where they welcomed two sons, Ignacio and Hugo.
“This opportunity was exactly what we were looking for,” says Tina. Although moving abroad was filled with uncertainty, she knew that “to go do the work of evangelization isn’t comfortable.” She says, “following God’s will isn’t always logical, and there can be peace in that. We have to be following where the peace of God is leading us.”
Tina is tremendously grateful for the impact of FOCUS on her, her family, and her vocation. She believes that the college years are a time of opportunity for young adults to step into their relationships with God and encounter Him more deeply. “There’s no other time where we’re that open to new things,” she says. “There’s a sense of ‘I’m growing up, and I’m choosing these things. What do I want to do with my life?’” Choosing to live a life of faith, Tina says, does not just have implications for that person alone. “It’s changing generations. It’s changing vocations,” she says. If a young person is well-formed in the faith, he/she will raise their children to come to know the Lord, as well.
When asked what the “missing piece” was on college campuses in inspiring young adults to take ownership of their faith, Tina reflected on the importance of “seeing young people live Catholic lives.” It is these authentic witnesses that attracted her to more fully live out her faith, and she hopes that other young adults are blessed with similar opportunities. If such examples are not present for a young adult, Tina suggests praying for community, for examples “worthy of being modeled.” Searching out Newman Centers and young adult groups in the area can connect young adults who are yearning for something beyond what the college lifestyle can offer. “Start praying,” she says. Whether it’s the rosary, sitting in silence, or reading the Gospel for 5-10 minutes and listening for how God is speaking to you through that, go beyond ‘praying the prayers’ and form a life of prayer. Allow the Lord to step into your heart and life.”
One of the most important things that Catholic young adults need, Tina says, is “to feel that they belong.” Without being in community with others, they can “feel homeless.” Young adults need to know and be encouraged that there is a place for them within the Church. Engaging in small groups, Bible studies, and opportunities for friendship are some ways in which young adults can grow in their faith during a period of transition from college to their vocations and careers. If young adults have difficulty finding such a community, Tina says “we might have to be the ones to create it.”
When it comes to evangelization—the universal call of all Catholics—Tina says, “When we’ve been given a gift, you have to share it.” The simplest way to do this is to love those around us. “We can all be evangelists where we are. Being an evangelist doesn’t mean you have to know everything,” she says. “Open your door and welcome people into your life.”
