“I’m not sure if you know about what’s happening on campuses right now,” my friend began.
A college senior, she’s seen something incredible happen in the four years she’s been at the University of Illinois. She told me:
Last year, my campus had 50 students entering the church on Easter. This year, we have 120. I’ve seen a significant difference in the Catholic culture and presence on my campus over the past four years.
It’s not just her university. What my friend sees happening at her school — in a remarkable, measurable way — is happening all over the world.
There’s a Catholic convert boom. It’s an exciting time to be Catholic and incredible to be living through this time of renewal and revival.
When Pope Leo XIV was elected — the first pope from the U.S. — many people wondered what the effect would be on the Catholic Church in the United States. While it's very soon to say, we might wonder if this Easter, we’re already starting to see the answer.
Even secular news media is taking notice: The New York Times just published "Roman Catholic Churches See a Surge of New Converts," reporting on some pretty staggering growth. CBS Mornings featured a clip too.
But the part we didn’t expect? This sudden growth is not just happening in the U.S.
All over the world, reports are coming in of record numbers of Catholics entering the Church this Easter.
And with warmth and affection, we want to tell them: Welcome home, brothers and sisters!
The convert boom in numbers
When we began compiling a list of cities around the world that have reported a conversion boom, the data quickly became overwhelming. It’s really happening everywhere.
Hallow, the leading prayer app, analyzed the data and found that the average Catholic diocese saw an increase of 38% in people entering the Church at Easter in 2026 compared to 2025.
Here are just a few of the many cities in the U.S. reporting record rates of OCIA candidates this Easter:
- New York City: Many parishes are reporting doubled or tripled OCIA enrollment. A few examples include St. Joseph's Church in Greenwich Village, which tripled its OCIA enrollment, and the Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral and St. Vincent Ferrer, both of which doubled enrollment since last year.
- Los Angeles: The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is experiencing a record-setting surge in Catholic converts, with 8,598 catechumens and candidates to be welcomed at Easter.
- Washington, DC: 1,700+ people are entering the Church this Easter, the highest number in 15 years.
- Newark, NJ: 1,700+ people are entering Church this Easter, up 70% since 2010.
- Des Moines, Iowa: The diocese reports more than 50% growth in those entering the Church over last year.
- Cleveland, Ohio: The OCIA cohort has more than doubled since 2023.
- Richmond, Virginia: A record 900 are on track to be baptized at Easter.
- Boston, Massachusetts: More than 680 catechumens plan to join the Church at Easter, an increase from last year’s 450, and previous years’ average of 250-300.
Many college campuses also report record numbers of converts, from Texas A&M with 400 in OCIA to the University of Notre Dame with 163, but there are too many universities with conversion booms to list them all here.
International reports
The numbers around the world continue to hit records:
- Australia: The Archdiocese of Sydney in Australia will welcome record numbers of catechumens and candidates who seek full communion with the Catholic Church. Melbourne is preparing to welcome 550 new Catholics, the highest number ever seen, and a 57% increase from last year – which was a 40% increase over 2024.
- France: France is seeing a massive increase in catechumens. Adult baptisms have tripled in the past decade, with 21,386 adult and teen baptisms to take place at Easter Vigil this year. Just five years ago, in 2021, that number was only 4,895.
- Scandinavia: While this region of the world is known for its low levels of religious practice, there are recent reports of a “Catholic awakening” in the region, including one town that celebrated its first priestly ordination in 500 years! From 2015 to 2025, Catholics in Norway alone rose from 95,655 to 168,220—a 76% increase.
What’s behind these numbers?
The million-dollar question is what could be driving this remarkable surge in Catholic conversions.
Ironically enough, the same things causing problems in the lives of young people — in this time of extraordinary instability, the relatively new mess of social media, and great stress and pressure — just might be what’s driving them to seek Jesus, who promises a peace that the world cannot give (John 14:27).
One university chaplain, Fr. Daniel McShane, suggested that young people are searching for a deeper, richer, and more fulfilling life:
It seems like something's happened in the culture in the past few years where college students are more open to these things than they were in the past. At least, when I was in college, the openness and the curiosity were not as palpable as they are today.
Sometimes we'll go out and do “water bottle evangelization,” when we take a cooler of water bottles on a hot day on the quad, and just pass them out and engage students in conversation. And we’ve had incredible conversations with people who are open to hearing about God, hearing about the Catholic faith, and hearing about how they can grow in relationship with Jesus Christ.
It seems like college students are searching for something more. They’re exhausted from social media addiction and the emptiness of what secularism offers them. They're looking for something deeper and something more fulfilling, and often that is bringing them into the Church.
Young people want stability amid cultural uncertainty—and even as it sometimes feels like our world is falling apart, this widespread renewed interest in faith is a very hopeful change.
Other possible reasons driving the surge could include the influence of Catholic podcasts and social media, the National Eucharistic Revival, and immigration from historically Catholic countries.
One reason that’s not gotten a lot of attention? The Jubilee Year. In many places, the last “high point” in conversions was in 1999, and it’s not lost on us that 2025 was also a Jubilee Year. Jubilee Years are famous for their powerful graces. Could this be an effect?
One college student put it this way: “To me, this is evidence of the desire in every young person’s heart to find truth, beauty, and goodness in a world that is selling them everything but that.”
