Before Easter, Notre Dame, Indiana, posted on Facebook requesting that people not line up before 9 am for the Holy Saturday liturgy, which was set to begin at 9 pm. All attendees needed to be physically present by 6:30 pm.
Why would people have to queue for 12 hours for a Holy Saturday liturgy? Room at the Easter Vigil was limited because of the unprecedented number of Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (formerly RCIA) participants.
Adult convert numbers are increasing right across America. The New York Times reported that this Easter, the Archdiocese of Detroit welcomed 1,428 new members into the faith, which is the largest intake in 21 years. In Galveston-Houston, the numbers were the highest in fifteen years. And in the Diocese of Des Moines, adult converts swelled from 265 to 400 in a single year.
Reporter Elizabeth Dias surveyed 24 dioceses, large and small, all of which reported a rise. People’s reasons were eclectic: some sought meaning in an increasingly lonely age, others were drawn in by Catholic online influencers such as Fr Mike Schmitz and the Thomistic Institute, while others were attracted by the sacraments or prayer.
Naturally, the NYT followed up with an article by Lauren Jackson a few days later, which might be summed up by an injunction not to get too excited. Secularisation has been paused, not reversed. There is no massive revival.
The technical definition of a religious revival is a period of intense religious excitement, which can be local, national or international”
The second article does cite a new study by Ryan Burges, a highly respected sociologist. The study shows that the share of Americans who are non-religious has dropped for the third year in a row, with those identifying as atheists and agnostics down to 5% each, which is the same level as 2014.
But Jackson says that just because people have stopped leaving churches en masse, that does not signal a revival.
The technical definition of a religious revival is a period of intense religious excitement, which can be local, national or international. So in that sense, Jackson is right. There is no revival.
Unfortunately, for many, revival is associated with the 2024 UK Bible Society’s Quiet Revival report, based on YouGov surveys that appeared to show a massive increase in churchgoing, particularly among Evangelicals and orthodox Catholics. For example, it stated that in 2018, just 4% of 18-24-year-olds claimed to attend church at least monthly. By 2024, the claim was that their numbers had risen to 16%, with young men increasing from 4% to 21%.
This study has now been withdrawn, due to flaws in the way that YouGov collected its data, for example, failing to activate anti-fraud measures that prevent people outside the country from filling in the survey, and not excluding people who just click buttons randomly, or those who fill it in multiple times.
Statistics
So what is happening in Ireland? The Catholic Bishops launched a report written by Emily Nelson and Dr Stephen Bullivant, based on Iona Institute/Amarach Research data, the European Social Survey, and other relevant studies.
The title is ‘The Turning Tide?’ It found cautious grounds for optimism. For example, Irish Catholic Mass attendance at 31% is fourth overall in Europe, much the same as Italy but well behind Poland (49%) and Slovakia (46%). Irish 16-29-year-olds’ attendance at 17% ranks sixth overall, and is far higher than the rates in Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium (all 5%).
Every parish pastoral council should be looking at what they can do for this precious, if small, minority”
The Iona Institute surveys show that in the Republic of Ireland, 18-24s are proportionally more likely to identify as religious or ‘not sure’ than are 25-34s, but less likely to identify as spiritual or ‘neither’. 18–24-year-olds in ROI aren’t particularly positive about both Christianity and the Catholic Church in Ireland, but they are more positive than are 25-34s, and fewer have a negative attitude towards priests and nuns.
So the picture is not as glum as the secularists would have us believe.
In Ireland and internationally, nominal Catholics are falling away while people who are willing to be counter-cultural are on the rise, even though they still constitute a tiny minority. These include people who are primarily right-wing politically, although the Church’s teaching cannot and should not be forced into either left or right-wing paradigms.
Others have fallen in love with the beauty and depth of the Church’s message of the salvation offered in Jesus Christ. The problem is that after conversion or reversion, they can struggle to find living communities in their parishes, particularly as they start families. Every parish pastoral council should be looking at what they can do for this precious, if small, minority.
As individuals and families, we should all be on the lookout in our communities for new arrivals, and without overwhelming them, seek to welcome and integrate them. They represent our best hope for the future.
A young woman is pictured in a file photo praying with a rosary. Photo: OSV News / Tyler
Orsburn.
Growth and decline are happening simultaneously for Catholicism
Before Easter, Notre Dame, Indiana, posted on Facebook requesting that people not line up before 9 am for the Holy Saturday liturgy, which was set to begin at 9 pm. All attendees needed to be physically present by 6:30 pm.
Why would people have to queue for 12 hours for a Holy Saturday liturgy? Room at the Easter Vigil was limited because of the unprecedented number of Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (formerly RCIA) participants.
Adult convert numbers are increasing right across America. The New York Times reported that this Easter, the Archdiocese of Detroit welcomed 1,428 new members into the faith, which is the largest intake in 21 years. In Galveston-Houston, the numbers were the highest in fifteen years. And in the Diocese of Des Moines, adult converts swelled from 265 to 400 in a single year.
Reporter Elizabeth Dias surveyed 24 dioceses, large and small, all of which reported a rise. People’s reasons were eclectic: some sought meaning in an increasingly lonely age, others were drawn in by Catholic online influencers such as Fr Mike Schmitz and the Thomistic Institute, while others were attracted by the sacraments or prayer.
Naturally, the NYT followed up with an article by Lauren Jackson a few days later, which might be summed up by an injunction not to get too excited. Secularisation has been paused, not reversed. There is no massive revival.
The second article does cite a new study by Ryan Burges, a highly respected sociologist. The study shows that the share of Americans who are non-religious has dropped for the third year in a row, with those identifying as atheists and agnostics down to 5% each, which is the same level as 2014.
But Jackson says that just because people have stopped leaving churches en masse, that does not signal a revival.
The technical definition of a religious revival is a period of intense religious excitement, which can be local, national or international. So in that sense, Jackson is right. There is no revival.
Unfortunately, for many, revival is associated with the 2024 UK Bible Society’s Quiet Revival report, based on YouGov surveys that appeared to show a massive increase in churchgoing, particularly among Evangelicals and orthodox Catholics. For example, it stated that in 2018, just 4% of 18-24-year-olds claimed to attend church at least monthly. By 2024, the claim was that their numbers had risen to 16%, with young men increasing from 4% to 21%.
This study has now been withdrawn, due to flaws in the way that YouGov collected its data, for example, failing to activate anti-fraud measures that prevent people outside the country from filling in the survey, and not excluding people who just click buttons randomly, or those who fill it in multiple times.
Statistics
So what is happening in Ireland? The Catholic Bishops launched a report written by Emily Nelson and Dr Stephen Bullivant, based on Iona Institute/Amarach Research data, the European Social Survey, and other relevant studies.
The title is ‘The Turning Tide?’ It found cautious grounds for optimism. For example, Irish Catholic Mass attendance at 31% is fourth overall in Europe, much the same as Italy but well behind Poland (49%) and Slovakia (46%). Irish 16-29-year-olds’ attendance at 17% ranks sixth overall, and is far higher than the rates in Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium (all 5%).
The Iona Institute surveys show that in the Republic of Ireland, 18-24s are proportionally more likely to identify as religious or ‘not sure’ than are 25-34s, but less likely to identify as spiritual or ‘neither’. 18–24-year-olds in ROI aren’t particularly positive about both Christianity and the Catholic Church in Ireland, but they are more positive than are 25-34s, and fewer have a negative attitude towards priests and nuns.
So the picture is not as glum as the secularists would have us believe.
In Ireland and internationally, nominal Catholics are falling away while people who are willing to be counter-cultural are on the rise, even though they still constitute a tiny minority. These include people who are primarily right-wing politically, although the Church’s teaching cannot and should not be forced into either left or right-wing paradigms.
Others have fallen in love with the beauty and depth of the Church’s message of the salvation offered in Jesus Christ. The problem is that after conversion or reversion, they can struggle to find living communities in their parishes, particularly as they start families. Every parish pastoral council should be looking at what they can do for this precious, if small, minority.
As individuals and families, we should all be on the lookout in our communities for new arrivals, and without overwhelming them, seek to welcome and integrate them. They represent our best hope for the future.
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