More converts

Baptizing one of my converts in 2014

                     
It is coincidental, but it’s worth noting that there has been a surge in the numbers of aspiring Catholics registering to join the church at Easter. It was at the same time when we had a new Pope, an American and missionary Pope whose charisma has been attracting more young people to the church. But this has started during the pontificate of Francis too. The Diocese of Lansing in Michigan reported 30% spike from the previous year, 633 converts, which is the highest they’ve seen in over a decade. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Catholic centre, baptized 20 students alone, and received in full communion an additional 50 who were coming into the church from other Christian denominations. And now church leaders are hoping that Pope Leo XIV will turbocharge the country’s Catholic boom. But America is not alone. The Catholic boom is also happening in France—which saw a 45 percent increase in the number of adult baptisms this year —and in England—where, due to a surge in Mass attendance, Catholics are on track to outnumber Anglicans for the first time since the Church of England was born.

The 11 converts at my last parish in Bend, Oregon

Why are so many adults in the once-secularized West seeking to be baptized into the Catholic Church? It’s because modern Americans are starved of beauty, meaning, purpose, and community. The Church of Rome offers all these things. In an age of instability, people are attracted to ancient traditions. Catholicism also has a visual and aesthetic heritage which has translated well into online culture. Catholics have turned out to be surprisingly good at using the internet to evangelize. The Catholic boom is especially notable among Gen Z. A 2023 study by Harvard University found that the percentage of Gen Z’ers identifying as Catholic jumped from 15 percent to 21 percent from 2022 and 2023. Young people are feeling a great need to recover the sense of mystery at Catholic Mass, which engages the human person in his or her entirety. . . and evokes a sense of wonder. In my last few parishes both in New York and Oregon, I had quite a few converts, 6, 8, 24, 18, 11, 15 in successive years. For many new Catholics, they may be attracted by the ‘smells of incense and the bells’ of traditionalism, while it could also be an arresting work of art, or a beautiful piece of music, which shows how God and the Catholic faith can inspire people to join a welcoming community that is the Catholic church, which presently numbers 1.3 billion members.