The Diocese of St. Petersburg is hoping to bring on the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) to the University of Tampa sometime this year to help serve students attending the school.

“We don't have FOCUS here in our diocese at the moment, but we're in negotiations right now to make that a reality, so we're looking to bring FOCUS to the University of Tampa to serve the students there so that would be a great blessing for us,” Gregory Parkes, bishop of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, said in his Take 5 show.

Parkes, who hosts Take 5—a YouTube series in which he conducts interviews with special guests—recently sat down for an interview with Curtis Martin, the founder and CEO of FOCUS, to discuss the group’s mission and the possibility of bringing FOCUS to the University of Tampa this year.

FOCUS is a Catholic organization whose aim is to reach out to college and university students and share the Gospel's hope and joy. On its website, FOCUS said its missionaries form connections with students and help them into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, armed with knowledge of Church principles, evangelizing, discipleship and more. The missionaries walk alongside the students as they aim for virtue and achievement in their life. FOCUS inspires and strengthens students' faith via Bible study, outreach programs, mission trips and discipleship.

FOCUS Missions began in 2004 with a trip to Peru planned by a small group of FOCUS missionaries and a few students who wished to help the poor, the website said. It has expanded substantially over the years, and FOCUS Missions now operates in more than 50 nations.

With more than 1,000 trips sent and thousands of participants, the organization continues to develop personal relationships with local community leaders and apostolates in order to discover and address the true needs of the communities they visit. Martin said that FOCUS could be on the University of Tampa campus as soon as August.