The Catholic News Agency portal reports from the SEEK 2026 conference organized by “FOCUS” (January 4-5, 2026), featuring a keynote by Arthur Brooks – Harvard professor and collaborator with Oprah Winfrey – who instructed 26,000 attendees to avoid cultural combat and instead “win souls” through non-confrontational dialogue. Brooks declared: “Your job isn’t to win arguments, it’s to win a soul… you won’t win with violence … as you can win with love.” Conference participants interpreted this as permission to prioritize interpersonal kindness over doctrinal clarity. This represents the complete inversion of Catholic missionary principles.
Naturalism Disguised as Evangelization
The speech’s central error lies in reducing the Church’s mission to emotional manipulation rather than truth proclamation. Brooks’ injunction to avoid arguments directly contradicts the Apostle’s command to “contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3). The Council of Trent anathematized those claiming good intentions suffice for salvation (Session VI, Canon 7), while Pope Pius X condemned precisely this sentimental approach in Pascendi Dominici Gregis: “Modernists place the foundation of religious philosophy in that doctrine which is usually called agnosticism… human reason is confined entirely within the field of phenomena.”
Brooks’ methodology mirrors the condemned ecumenical heresy:
“Those people, they’re your neighbors… It’s not that they hate America, it’s that they disagree with you.”
This relativizes doctrinal differences to mere political disagreements, ignoring Christ’s warning: “He who is not with Me is against Me” (Matthew 12:30). The “signs on the door” metaphor about entering “mission territory” omits the sine qua non of true missions: public proclamation of Christ the King’s social reign and the Church’s exclusive salvific role (Pius XI, Quas Primas; Pius IX, Quanto conficiamur moerore).
Theological Vacuum in “Winning Souls”
Nowhere does Brooks mention the necessary conditions for soul-winning:
- The minister must be in state of grace (Council of Trent, Session XXIII, Chapter 1)
- The message must include repentance from sin and submission to Church authority (Mark 1:15; Matthew 28:19-20)
- The sacraments as ordinary means of salvation (John 3:5; Council of Trent, Session VII)
This omission proves the operation’s fundamentally naturalistic character. When student Katie Tangeman concludes she must simply see opponents as “beloved son[s] or daughter[s] of God,” she epitomizes the indifferentism condemned in Mortalium Animos: “The union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ.” The conciliar sect substitutes psychological techniques for sacramental theology.
Structural Apostasy of FOCUS Operations
The very premise of “SEEK” conferences entrenches modernism:
| Conciliar Error | Manifestation at SEEK 2026 |
|---|---|
| Religious indifferentism (Dignitatis Humanae) | Brooks’ collaboration with Oprah Winfrey – promoter of New Age heresies – treated as credential rather than scandal |
| False ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio) | 26,000 attendees exhorted to dialogue without conversion demands |
| Denial of Social Kingship (Quas Primas) | “Cultural war” framed as interpersonal conflict rather than Satanic rebellion against Christ’s reign |
The invitation to a secular academic like Brooks – whose “How to Build a Life” column in The Atlantic promotes Buddhist-inspired mindfulness – reveals FOCUS’ capitulation to worldly wisdom. St. Pius X warned in Pascendi that modernists would reduce faith to “experience,” precisely what occurs when Andrew Stuart reduces evangelization to “battling with kindness” rather than truth.
Silent Apostasy Through Omission
The gravest errors lie in what the speakers failed to declare:
- No mention of extra Ecclesiam nulla salus (Council of Florence, Session 11)
- No warning against receiving sacraments from invalidly ordained conciliar ministers
- No distinction between true charity (feeding souls with truth) and false sentimentality (tolerating error)
When Brooks claims “nobody has ever been insulted into agreement,” he forgets that Christ called opponents “brood of vipers” (Matthew 12:34) and “children of the devil” (John 8:44). The Apostles publicly rebuked error (Galatians 2:11), while St. John the Baptist’s confrontational preaching cost his life (Mark 6:18-27). True missionaries wield both the balm of mercy and the sword of truth.
Conclusion: Setting Fire to the Faith
Brooks’ closing call to “set the world on fire” inverts St. Ignatius Loyola’s Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam. The conciliar sect ignites not the ignis divinus of sanctifying grace, but the destructive flames of universalist heresy. As St. Pius X declared in Notre Charge Apostolique: “The true friends of the people are neither revolutionaries, nor innovators: they are traditionalists.” Until these faux missionaries demand repentance and submission to Rome’s immutable doctrines, their “soul-winning” remains soul-endangering.
Source:
Arthur Brooks at SEEK 2026: ‘Your job isn’t to win arguments, it’s to win a soul’ (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 05.01.2026