“The kids are all right”
The kids are old rite.
Posted on 09/15/2025 9:30:38 PM PDT by Cronos
After decades of declining attendance and dwindling faith in much of the Western world, Roman Catholicism could be witnessing an unexpected revival.
...the renewal is coming from the unlikeliest of corners: Gen Z.
For these young people, whose life online is often impossible to parse from their “IRL”(In Real Life) existence, this move towards faith is at least partly due to the growing ecosystem of Catholic personalities on social media: clergy and layfolk alike, preaching, teaching, meme-ing and streaming – influencing teens and young adults.
France has become a hotspot for this youthful turn towards God.
Baptisms among 18- to 25-year-olds in France have more than quadrupled in the last four years, while adult baptisms as a whole have risen more than 160% over the past decade,
This Easter – a traditional time for baptism – saw a record number of 17,800, with the number of adult baptisms increasing by 45% compared with 2024, the data showed.
“We had pretty much announced the end of Catholicism,” Sister Albertine Debacker, a 29-year-old Catholic influencer who goes by @soeur.albertine online “At one time, I thought that it was really a grandma’s thing.”
She has become one of the biggest names in the online Catholic world in France, with 334,000 followers on Instagram and a further 202,000 on TikTok.
“What’s happening among young people is that they dare to speak amongst themselves. Religion isn’t a taboo subject,”
Accounts like Sister Albertine’s provide a one-stop shop for those looking to learn more about the Catholic faith. She offers worship (her exam-time prayers video has racked up 2.3 million views), life advice, guidance on becoming a nun or getting baptized, and explanations of key Catholic teachings.
“How to forgive,” “Money in the Church,” and “3 tips to start reading the Bible” are among her offerings.
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
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This wave of new joiners to the Church has been dubbed the “Quiet Revival” – so-called because few expected it and no one planned it.
France’s youthful enthusiasm for religion has been echoed elsewhere in Europe. In Belgium, teenage and adult baptisms have nearly trebled in 10 years, according to Church data. In Ireland’s largest diocese of Dublin, nearly twice as many adults were baptized this Easter as a year earlier, many of them young adults who were new to the country, church leaders said, while London’s Archdiocese of Westminster had the largest number of adult baptisms this Easter since 2018.
In the US, with traditionally higher churchgoing numbers, the decline in religion has seemingly halted, according to a recent study from Pew Research Center. A 2023 Harvard University study found more Gen Z Americans are identifying as Catholic, with young men leading the trend.
Abbot Hugh Allan, the director of mission at the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, says the latest research isn’t surprising. “The conversations I have with people is quite remarkable, there’s a real desire at the moment to know more about God,”
It seems a combination of factors:
1. The vacuum of godlessness is depressing
2. Churches should focus on the timelessness of Christian belief but also go out and preach it in different media
3. As a minority we Christians now can focus on deep belief while the cultural Christians can fritter away
“The kids are all right”
The kids are old rite.
This is not the first place I've heard this, and it's very interesting to me. Why is this surge mostly involving young men? We had four new men joining my parish Bible study this week and all were young guys super enthusiastic about being there. For the longest time we mostly old or older guys.
I think it is because men, generally more than women need a grand purpose, something to focus our lives as a target. Women, in general, can focus on the day to day holiness while us guys like the adventure. Just my point of view
I just re read what you wrote ;)
During Sunday’s two Catholic church services near me, one priest mentioned Charlie Kirk - an American priest. The Indian priest didn’t refer to Kirk at all.
The Charlie Kirk vigil in Manassas left me shaking.
Me and my Gen Z son had a conversation about this last night, and that was of the possible factors we came up with. The other was the fact that the role of the male has become so diminished in the eyes of society, especially in every kind of media, including social media. At it’s root, Catholicism (practiced authentically) is a religion for adults, especially males. Catholicism as only a religion for little old ladies clutching their rosaries is a relatively recent stereotype.
Can you expand on those two topics please?
Maybe later. I’m on my way to chemo this morning.
“The kids are all right”
The kids are old rite.
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