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Posted on 05/13/2025 2:58:15 AM PDT by Cronos
This Easter, the University of Notre Dame saw a record number of students enter the Catholic Church. This trend is happening not just at Notre Dame but around the country. Los Angeles welcomed more than 5,500 new Catholics. The New York Post ran an essay entitled “Young people are converting to Catholicism en masse [. . .]” As reporter Matthew McDonald wrote in another article, “Dioceses are reporting increases of 30%, 40%, 50% and even more than 70%.”
Not just in the United States but around the world, a growing number of adults—mostly young adults—joined the Church. In Austria, there was an 85 percent increase in the number of adult baptisms. In his essay “Adult Baptisms: What’s Driving the Rise?,” Luke Coppen reports large increases in Belgium, Canada, and Mongolia. Catholic conversions are also rising in Kosovo. In Sweden, the Catholic Church is growing, again with young adult converts. The Washington Times reported, “France sees a record surge in conversions to Catholicism.” In England, another article noted that it is “the young converts leading Catholicism’s UK comeback.”
Some people think that the COVID pandemic explains this massive surge in young people joining (or rejoining) the Catholic Church. As Yale Professor Nicholas A. Christakis explains, “Usually what happens in times of plague is people get more religious. I mean, this has been observed for thousands of years. They get more abstemious; they stop spending money; they get risk-averse; they adopt a whole set of behaviors like that. And then when the plague is behind them, they do the reverse. Religion now declines.” In May 2023, the World Health Organization declared an end to the pandemic. So, what one would expect in 2025 is a decrease in conversions, rather than what is actually found: a great increase in people joining the Church.
What has drawn so great a number of young people to conversion? Each person’s story is unique, but recent converts often share common paths. Many of them have been influenced by winsome and intelligent online presentations of the Catholic faith from people like Trent Horn of Catholic Answers, Dr. Scott Hahn of the St. Paul Center, and of course Bishop Robert Barron at Word on Fire. They don’t present a dumbed-down Catholicism incapable of answering the questions of today’s young adults.
Another recurring pattern is the power of beauty in prompting conversions and reversions. What could be more beautiful and moving than Holy Week celebrations in the Vatican with the pope? I had the chance to do this in 1991 with Pope St. John Paul II. It was absolutely spectacular, stunningly beautiful, and deeply moving. I assumed there would never be anything to surpass it. I was wrong.
This year, I got to celebrate Holy Week at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame from Palm Sunday through Easter Vespers. If you want to go to the Easter Vigil, you need to wait in a long line. The Vigil begins at 9:00 p.m., but the doors open at 7:00 p.m. So, eager students began lining up for a prime seat in the Basilica at 5:45. That is, 5:45 a.m., more than fifteen hours before the service began. That is enthusiasm in the root sense of the term.
What made Holy Week at Notre Dame so beautiful? The choir singing Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater would melt the heart of the abominable snowman. The gradual extinguishing of all lights in the Tenebrae service with the thunderous strepitus in total darkness made me feel the power of infernal forces.
But the most beautiful part of Holy Week for me came during the Easter Vigil. We witnessed the baptism of twenty-three students. After they were baptized, the congregation gave them an ovation of thunderous applause lasting, it seemed, three or four minutes.
As recent convert Sydney Johnston put it, “There’s just something so beautiful and transcendent about the rituals and the ancient history in the Catholic Mass that’s been preserved. . . . The church really communicates a degree of reverence that I didn’t find in the more liberal, laissez-faire approach of nondenominational churches.” Although many people begin their journey to the Church online, the destination is personal, concrete, and incarnational.
The Church is in a prime position to supply what is lacking in today’s culture. As Professor Jeffrey Pojanowski pointed out:
In a disembodied time, [the Church] is resolutely concrete: the splash of holy water, the smear of oil, the pinch of exorcising salt, the smell of incense, the quiet voice of absolution in your ear, the gentle slap of confirmation, Blaise’s candles on your throat, the laying on—or grasp—of hands, the gentle ache of the knees at consecration, the weird, withered relic of a saint, and, of course, the taste of bread and wine that are, mysteriously, His flesh and blood—suffering embraced and given loving meaning. This revolution will not be digitized.
As so many young people around the world have recently discovered, the Church offers what cannot be found anywhere else.
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This is a time to focus on WHY many have come to enrich the church. The reasons are clear
1. They want stability
2. They want a connection to the Apostolic age, to 2000 years of continuity
3. They don’t want a cult of personality
4. They are more educated and have read through scripture, history and the early Church.
one example I am praying for is Tom Holland, the author of Dominion (who writes that much of what the secular world holds as paramount, even the idea of “secularism” is fundamentally Christian).
I’m not seeing it. Last weekend my 11 year old daughter was the only child in the church. I would put the average age in the church at about 50+.
A year or 2 ago the Detroit Archdiocese was in full panic as there was not one priest ordained.
Because they’re not reading the Bible. If they did, they would know they’re making a big mistake.
My church in the Boston are is just the opposite. At least 1/2 of the attendees at mass last week were under age 35. Attendance is double the size of last year.
Why Are So Many Young Adults Becoming Catholic? {Ecumenical}>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
As usual, it is a social thing. Roman Catholic youth love to hang out together: Sports, dances, group travel and even Irish beer parties.
This magnetizes youth to get together.
I think it is great to see the holy spirit invest people so they join together in a joyful way.
Follow the joy. There you will have the answer.
“WHY many have come to enrich the church.”
“THE church”? The RC denomination.
“They are more educated and have read through scripture, history and the early Church.”
“More educated”. Rude and silly ... and an OPINION by arrogant cultists.
“Read through Scripture.” Are you guys allowed to do that now? ‘Cause my RC school friends were forbidden to do that.
Yes, THE Church - the one founded by Jesus in 33 AD - the Catholic Church.
Matthew 16:18–19: Jesus says to Peter, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” This indicates Christ founding a single, visible Church with Peter as its foundation, entrusted with authority.
John 17:20–23: Jesus prays for the unity of His followers, “that they may be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you.” This unity is not merely spiritual but visible, realized in the Catholic Church’s structure and sacraments.
Christ established a visible, authoritative Church (not just a loose collection of believers) to teach and sanctify (Matthew 28:19–20).
As, along with the Assyrian, the Oriental Orthodox and the Eastern Orthodox there is an unbroken line of bishops from the apostles, ensuring the transmission of Christ’s authority and teaching (Acts 1:20–26; 1 Timothy 4:14), referenced and documented from the 1st century - Ignatius of Antioch, c. 110 AD, who refers to the “Catholic Church” in his Letter to the Smyrnaeans 8:2 — the breakaway western groups are correctly and linguistically speaking, denominations.
The Catholic Church’s global presence, consistent doctrine, and sacramental system (e.g., the Eucharist, understood as Christ’s real presence per John 6:51–58) reflect its universal mission, unlike denominations often defined by specific theological emphases (e.g., your Baptist focus on believer’s baptism).
Christ’s command to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19) is fulfilled through the Catholic Church’s universal structure, which includes all cultures and eras. Denominations, while sharing in Christ’s mission, often reflect specific historical or cultural contexts (e.g., Baptist churches arising in post-Reformation England).
I also hear from the young adults that they feel lied to by the education establishment, who taught them mainly to buy into the establishment more than furthering their careers. But admittedly, that might be a bit anecdotal, given that I sometimes lead a financial small group (and thus the discussions there are more liable to be about career talk).
We now have 3 services on Sunday. We encourage small groups meeting in each other’s homes, but facilitate meeting at the church building on Thursday nights to offer childcare during group meetings. Thursday nights are packed with groups meeting in many rooms.
Meaning all of these share the same dogma and doctrine as noted in the Catechism
We have
All share the same doctrine and dogma, are equally valid and in communion with the Pope, and, while they have their own patriarchs, have the bishop of rome as the first among equals
- The Maronite Catholic church
- The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
- The Chaldean Catholic Church
So, this is the Catholic Church - not just the "Roman" or "Latin"
And, it is not a denomination as the term "denomination" refers to a recognized group within a larger religious tradition.
And yes, the ones converting as more educated - that is seen in their profiles - which you haven’t read.
All of those who converted have read their way into the church.
Firstly - you have over the years repeated a lot of things of what you think the Catholic Church believes that isn't what the Church believes, so you should re-examine the false statements you repeat
Secondly - besides the fact that we read the Bible daily in mass, at no point in the past century has reading the Bible not been allowed - telling lies is a sin, you know, so you ought to refrain
The Catholic Church has long upheld the Bible as the inspired Word of God, integral to faith and practice. In the 20th century, key developments reinforced this: The Catechism encourages frequent reading of Scripture, stating that the Church “forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful… to learn ‘the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ,’ by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures” (CCC 133).
I repeat - lying is a sin that you should not do, so stop repeating lies about the Church
Exactly - though I would point out that while it may start as a counter-reaction to permissive culture, I have no doubt that these converts are deep believers
On the contrary, roving, they have been reading the Bible and seeing that this is the way forward for them.
Have you read the Bible, I mean whole books of the Bible, rather than excerpts?
It’s the Holy Spirit,I have 8 teenage Grandchildren, it was fun to watch them all do a dance singing their faith they learned at Steubenville. They are openly Catholic.
you hit the nail on the head, it is the Holy Spirit at work, you are 100% correct
“the ones converting as more educated - that is seen in their profiles - which you haven’t read.”
Any “data” can be contrived and manipulated. And any respondent can inflate his creds.
“All of those who converted have read their way into the church.”
The Holy Spirit is dismayed.
I think Ellen White gives us a good explanation of why many people are attracted to 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.
This isn’t data - this is the actual interviews with people who are more educated.
Instead of your knee-jerk statements, have you even read what these people wrote about themselves?
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