Posted on 04/18/2025 11:18:39 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Sydney Johnston grew up in a nondenominational Christian household — but now the Upper West Side millennial is a devout Catholic.
“There’s just something so beautiful and transcendent about the rituals and the ancient history in the Catholic Mass that’s been preserved,” Johnston, 30, told The Post. “The church really communicates a degree of reverence that I didn’t find in the more liberal, laissez-faire approach of nondenominational churches.”
Confirmed in December 2024 at the Church of Notre Dame in Morningside Heights, Johnston is one of a growing number of young people turning to the Catholic Church from other denominations, religions and even no faith at all. According to the National Catholic Register, some dioceses are reporting year-over-year increases of 30% to 70% in new converts. The Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, for instance, experienced a 72% jump in converts just from 2023 to 2024.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
In the past i would be proud of this and say its a good thing- but with our red pope leading the way the past decade, I just don’t know....
Younger people aren't embracing Catholicism because of Pope Francis. They're embracing it despite him.
He's not even mentioned in this article.
Hope that religious and ritual appeal turns into receiving Jesus. Otherwise it is useless towards eternal life.
And once Jesus is received, to have a victorious Christian life, one must turn away from the self-righteousness and condemnation of the law to God’s righteousness by faith and grace.
I hope you are correct...
The Roman Catholic Church has been around for 2000 years. As a devoted Catholic, I remain confident that it will be around for quite a long time into the future.
Happy Easter!
I’m in no way a Holy Roller. The fact that “Young People” are gathering in numbers, to me, begs one simple question. Why??
...and I think I know the answer... doesn’t the church subscribe to any whim of the modern public? Gays... Gay marriage, trans acceptance, divorce... adultery... the young are going to be coddled. no matter their fetish, “They will Be Saved”...
If you "believe in anything" then why he even bother?
Just imagine how millions would be flocking to the Catholic church if we had a charismatic conservative pope like John Paul II.
this is the true crime against the church. I am not a believer, BUT!!!! I would in NO WAY(short of the Crusades!) stop its teaching because humanity/society needs something as a moral compass. we see daily what the outcome of no moral compass has on society. And the church is the last gate into the abyss...
And the church is the last gate into the abyss...
Is that right? last gate? The fence surrounding the abyss?
hope you get my drift...
The Church is still against all those things. Now, there may be people of authority in the Church who don't support that position, but they haven't changed the actual rules.
No offense to all of the Catholic friends I was brought up around, but I am personally considering one of the Eastern Orthodox traditions. Not Rome.
Agreed. I’m afraid these young people may be in for a severe letdown. Francis has put too many people in place for the madness to go away with his death.
I’ve been going to Bible churches for years, but have found myself going back to the Catholic Church frequently. Their worship music and overall atmosphere is more reverent, and I like the fact that we have communion every week. However, the teaching is lacking, and I don’t believe in the concepts of salvation by works, purgatory, or the worshiping of Mary and the Saints. And of course anything the pope teaches is insane.
I am truly a cafeteria Catholic, but that’s fine. My salvation is not through the Catholic Church, but through faith Jesus dying for my sins.
Interesting comment I read about the Roman Catholic church.
Quote:
A religion of externals is attractive to the unrenewed heart. The pomp and ceremony of the Catholic worship have a seductive, bewitching power by which many are deceived; and they come to look upon the Roman Church as the very gate of Heaven. None are proof against her influence but those who have planted their feet firmly upon the foundation of truth, and whose hearts are renewed by the Spirit of God. Thousands who have not an experimental knowledge of Christ will be swept into this deception. A form of godliness without the power is just what they desire. The Romanist feels at liberty to sin, because the church claims the right to pardon. To him who loves self-indulgence, it is more pleasing to confess to a fellow-mortal than to open the soul to God. It is more palatable to human nature to do penance than to renounce sin. It is easier to mortify the flesh by sackcloth and nettles and galling chains than to crucify fleshly lusts. Heavy is the yoke which the carnal heart is willing to bear rather than bow to the yoke of Christ.
Groan. Not Ellen White again. I think we’ve all had quite enough of your Catholic basher, Ellen White.
You’re giving SDAs a bad name. There’s an old saying: you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
Interesting comment I read about Adventism:
Quote:
If you were true to the Bible, no one could prove you wrong. But you are most unbiblical. Your very system leaves you without any real proof that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. It cannot say what is the real sense of all that is contained in the Bible. It concentrates upon a few misinterpreted texts, and ignores the whole trend of Scripture, although all Scripture is of equal value as God's Word. The Catholic Church alone can guarantee Scripture as the Word of God, and alone can guarantee its correct meaning.
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