Posted on 04/20/2025 8:48:07 PM PDT by Coleus
Sydney Johnston grew up in a nondenominational Christian household but now the Upper West Side millennial is a devout Catholic. Theres just something so beautiful and transcendent about the rituals and the ancient history in the Catholic Mass thats been preserved, Johnston, 30, told The Post. The church really communicates a degree of reverence that I didnt 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.The Post spoke to several young new Catholics who cite the pandemic, the internet and a distaste for lax Protestant alternatives as reasons for turning to the faith.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Bttt
5.56mm
That’s wonderful news!
I’m not in the front row here just speaking to others I hear of such developments from them.
It seems strange in a way that people would join a church whose leader is considered heretical to the faith the young people are professing.
It is because those joining the Church today as adults have a greater awareness that the Church is bigger than one man who is here today and gone tomorrow, while the Church marches on, stronger for the trials and attacks (from both the inside and the outside) that God allows it to go through. "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18), and "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." (Hebrews 1:12). Amen. Alleluia.
It sounds like they are attracted to the Catholic rituals. They’re not thinking about doctrines. Maybe they like the stuff about Mary, because she’s sort of like a goddess.
The Catholic Church is bigger than the Pope?
I’m all for it. I’m not Catholic but I can appreciate the ritualistic aspect and pageantry. It’s all for the glory of God so more power to the worshippers. Personally I can do without the hierarchical structure but that’s just me, not a criticism at all. Like I said there is an attraction to the ceremony.
“trad-evangelists” is the term I keep hearing. Spreading the good news that is the original faith. IMO Protestant faithful quite welcome; this is about Christ, not about minutiae (although yes the traditions usually come with, from respectful clothing to hymns and Latin; just don’t get stuck on it).
(cross-posted from the other article citing the same NY Post bit)
It is. Popes come and go, the good and the bad; and the evil that the bad ones do dies with them. But the Catholic Church remains, and will do so until the Second Coming of the Lord. We have his promise on it.
>Maybe they like the stuff about Mary, because she’s sort of like a goddess.
I understand it’s fun to troll but don’t be silly. The attraction is to Christ and away from the hell that is wokeness.
Please refrain from attempting to muck things up. The same returning to true faith is happening in traditional Protestant denominations (as opposed to wokist junk like ELCA).
Great news 🙏
No traditional Catholic is so because they just like the ritual. Part of the attraction is that the Church has a clear, established, ancient set of teachings that cannot be changed, even if whatever current leaders there are are poor teachers or even heretics.
If you believe that Catholics think Mary is in any sense a "goddess", you don't know Catholic teaching and you should look into it more. If some individual Catholics do, they are also poorly informed. If you think you can read their minds on what they think, you should go into mindreading to make a few bucks on the side.
Younger people aren't embracing Catholicism because of Pope Francis. They're embracing it despite him.
He's not even mentioned in this article.
Hopefully. My theory about being attracted to Mary is actually serious, though none of the people in the article mentioned Mary.
It is interesting you can't provide any assertions or proofs of your own, but have spam an offsite link. CARM is notoriously anti-Catholic site, so it is hardly an unbiased source.
From your source: "After all, she can simultaneously hear millions of prayers that are spoken and thought, in different languages, all over the world."
This is a pretty old and childish canard, even by CARM's low standards. To ask this is to suppose being in heaven is like being on earth, with the same limitations we have here. Being in heaven, Mary (and others in heaven) are not constrained by time or space. Man-made computers are capable of doing millions of computations at once. If it is the will of God that Mary and the saints are able to hear and answer prayers in the timeless eternity that is heaven, do you doubt that he has the power to make it possible, making him less powerful than a machine?
And you still haven't any proof that Catholics consider Mary a "goddess". I invite you to provide one iota of proof that the Church teaches that.
My 24 yr old niece has suddenly decided to go to church with her young son every week and seems to be really into it.
She has also seems to have turned her life around (we were VERY worried) and over half way through a very good 4yr nursing school.
It almost seems like a miracle...
I’m so Proud
Infinitely Bigger
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