Catholic churches PACKED for Easter as conversions skyrocket



Catholic churches across the U.S. and other parts of the Western world welcomed historic numbers of new members over the weekend. Although popularly characterized as a "surge," some analysts have suggested the flood of new and often young converts is actually a rebound.

Prior to welcoming 20 people fully into the faith during the crowded Easter Vigil at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, Archbishop José Gomez said, "Tonight your story will be joined to His story, to the beautiful history of salvation, the great story of God’s love for His people."

'This generation just seems open to the call of the Lord.'

Altogether, 8,598 catechumens and candidates were received into the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles this Easter, reported Angelus News.

On Saturday, Archbishop Ronald Hicks welcomed some of the over 3,600 new catechumens who reportedly joined the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of New York this Easter season, telling a packed house at St. Patrick's Cathedral, "It does feel good when you belong, and we belong to Jesus and we belong to our church."

Father Andy Matijevic of Holy Name Cathedral in the Archdiocese of Chicago told WBBM-TV, "We had six Masses so far, last night and a few this morning, and all of them have been packed inside."

Holy Name, which held overflow Masses on Sunday, reportedly saw 18 people baptized and another 23 confirmed, contributing to the archdiocese's total of over 600 catechumens who received the sacraments of initiation at the Easter Vigil.

Chicago Catholic noted last month that the archdiocese was also set to welcome 445 individuals from other Christian traditions this past weekend, representing a 78% increase in members over last year.

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Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Ronaldo Bolaños/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

Father Burke Masters, whose St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Parish in the Chicago suburb of Hinsdale reported a 124% year-over-year increase in new members, told WLS-TV that the average age of those being received into the church is 28 years old.

St. Mary's Church near Texas A&M's campus in College Station, Texas, also managed to roughly double its 2025 Easter baptism numbers, welcoming 61 catechumens into the Catholic Church. Again, most of the newcomers were apparently young adults.

"Most of the [new members] are students, most of them are invited by other students, most of them also maybe heard a call or were drawn to the church," Rev. Will Straten told KBTX-TV. "So it’s great to see more students desiring to be baptized and to live the faith."

Boston Archbishop Richard Henning, who saw the churches under his purview similarly packed over the weekend and expected over 680 catechumens to join the Church at Easter, told CBS News, "I think this generation just seems open to the call of the Lord in a way that we've not seen in a while."

Numerous other American dioceses — such as the Archdiocese of Newark — similarly reportedly years-high numbers of new Catholics converts, as did dioceses elsewhere in the Western world.

In Canada, for example, the Archdiocese of Toronto counted a total of 2,050 adult catechumens baptized at its Easter Vigil celebrations — a 12.4% increase over last year. Other Canadian dioceses, including those covering the cities of Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver, were also reportedly set for significant growth over the weekend.

In France, over 13,000 adults were set to be baptized into the Catholic Church over the weekend, including more than 700 catechumens in Paris, reported the National Catholic Register.

The numbers appear especially high in large part because conversion numbers in recent decades had fallen so low.

According to U.S. diocesan statistics compiled by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University and analyzed by the Pillar, there was a precipitous decline in the number of people becoming Catholic from 2000 to 2020.

Whereas, for instance, there were 173,674 adults baptized or received into full communion in 2000, that number reportedly had plummeted to 70,796 in 2020.

The Pillar noted that while there has been a significant increase in the number of new adult Catholics following the pandemic, the number of babies baptized every year has dropped by over 50% since 2000.

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Catholic church sees huge surge in attendance — due to inclusivity?



Catholic churches across the United States are seeing increases in attendance, especially for Easter.

This comes just a few short months after Pope Leo XIV was interpreted as making a push for more inclusivity within the religion.

'[There is] a thirst and hunger for God and stability that faith brings to people's lives.'

An Italian academic who follows the Vatican said earlier this year that the new pope is likely to continue his predecessor's "trajectories."

Pope Francis famously said in 2013, "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?"

To that end, Pope Leo's comments at the beginning of 2026 were determined by some to signal an increasing tolerance toward those who are typically considered at odds with the Catholic tradition.

"Only love is trustworthy; only love is credible," the pope said in January. "While unity attracts, division scatters."

However, the truth was somewhere in the details. Massimo Faggioli, the academic from Trinity College Dublin, told Reuters that the pope was "working to convince the cardinals that they need to work collectively together to do what the Catholic people want them to do."

As the year has progressed, followers have learned that while the pope told his biographer the church's beliefs about "gay and trans people" has not changed, he added, "but the Church invites everyone."

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Grzegorz Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images

Truly progressive messaging was not clearly found in the pope's Lent messaging soon thereafter. He asked parishes to listen to "the word of God, as well as to the cry of the poor and of the earth."

He said Catholics must strive to make their communities places where "the cry of those who suffer finds welcome, and listening opens paths towards liberation, making us ready and eager to contribute to building a civilization of love."

No matter how one interprets the pope's call to religious arms in 2026, it has seemingly worked, with a recent survey of Catholic parishes showcasing a rather large uptick in attendance.

The New York Times reported at length about the surge in followers, starting with the Archdiocese of Detroit, which will see 1,428 new Catholics for Easter, its highest in 21 years.

Galveston-Houston will see a 15-year peak, while Des Moines has an increase of 51% this year, 265 to 400.

Washington Cardinal Robert McElroy said his congregation is up by nearly 200 — already at its highest in 15 years — while Philadelphia's following has nearly doubled since 2017. Newark has gone from 1,000 Easter-goers in 2010 to 1,700 in 2026.

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Grzegorz Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images

McElroy told the Times he thinks the Holy Spirit is behind the surge, while Archbishop Mitchell Thomas Rozanski of St. Louis says the increase could be due to a rise in uncertainty and anxiety.

There is "a thirst and hunger for God and stability that faith brings to people's lives," he said. The archbishop then blamed technology and COVID-19 for magnifying isolation.

The report also claimed that those between 18 and 35 years old were the noted age range that has seen the most growth among several dioceses.

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Notre Dame pro-abortion radical out as leader after students' and bishops' pressure campaign



The University of Notre Dame in Indiana announced last month that pro-abortion radical Susan Ostermann had been appointed to lead the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies.

The administrative elevation of an activist whose secular ministry is fundamentally at odds with the moral teachings of the Catholic Church and the school's corresponding pro-life position proved intolerable to Notre Dame's members and supporters — including the cleric invested with the power to prohibit the institution from identifying as Catholic.

'A win for consistency, clarity, and common sense.'

The sustained protest by scholars, supporters, alumni, and clergy — including 15 bishops and two archbishops — appears to have paid off.

Keough School of Global Affairs Dean Mary Gallagher, the administrator who reportedly first made the appointment, announced in a letter on Thursday to students and faculty that Ostermann "has decided not to move forward as director."

"I am grateful for her willingness to serve and for the thoughtfulness with which she approached this decision," wrote Gallagher.

Gallagher suggested further that the activist — who has dehumanized the unborn, downplayed the dangers of abortion, equated childbirth without the option of abortion as "violence," worked with an organization that seeks to enshrine pro-abortion policies around the world, and vilified the pro-life movement — is a "respected scholar" whose "research and teaching reflect the intellectual rigor and interdisciplinary excellence at the heart of both the Lieu Institute and the Keough School of Global Affairs."

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Ostermann said in a statement included in Gallagher's letter that "the focus on my appointment risks overshadowing the vital work the Institute performs, which it should be allowed to pursue without undue distraction," reported the Irish Rover.

She noted further that "it has become clear that there is work to do at Notre Dame to build a community where a variety of voices can flourish."

The announcement comes two weeks after Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend condemned Ostermann's appointment, underscored that her views and activism were disqualifying, and told the university to "rectify this situation."

Following the news that Ostermann had thrown in the towel, Bishop Rhoades expressed gratitude "to all the members of the Notre Dame community and beyond who, out of love for Notre Dame, expressed their opposition to the appointment."

'The Bishop did not urge us to sit silently and watch our Lady’s University fall before our eyes.'

"The reason I opposed the appointment is because the appointment of persons to leadership positions at a Catholic university is an act of institutional witness, a mission-governance issue," wrote Rhoades.

"Clearly Notre Dame is reaffirming its fidelity to a core truth of Catholic social teaching that is central to the Church’s commitment to integral human development."

Mary FioRito, senior fellow at the Catholic Association, said in a statement obtained by Blaze News, "Professor Susan Ostermann's decision not to accept the position of director at the University of Notre Dame’s Liu Center is a win for consistency, clarity, and common sense."

"As an explicitly Catholic university, Notre Dame owes its students and faculty 'truth in advertising,'" continued FioRito. "Ostermann’s public advocacy of legal abortion would have overshadowed the good work of the Liu Center and significantly hampered its ability to form students."

Catholic and conservative student groups — including Notre Dame Right to Life, Knights of Columbus Council 1477, and the Militia of Immaculata — were planning to hold a prayerful protest Friday evening where they would urge Rev. Robert Dowd, the president of the university, to rescind the appointment and "exercise his authority to enforce Notre Dame's Catholic mission."

Sophomore Luke Woodyard, co-organizer of the planned demonstration, stated, "The Bishop did not urge us to sit silently and watch our Lady’s University fall before our eyes; he gave us a clear call to action."

Notre Dame Right to Life President Anna Kelley told the Observer on Thursday that in light of Ostermann's decision, students will still assemble on Friday but for "a prayerful procession in gratitude of the recent decision" and in thanks "for the true Catholic identity of Notre Dame."

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New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan resigns; pope appoints his replacement



Per the resignation norms revised by the late Pope Francis in 2014, Cardinal Timothy Dolan was obligated to present his letter of resignation from the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of New York upon reaching the age of 75.

Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the U.S., confirmed on Thursday that Pope Leo XIV has accepted Dolan's resignation and appointed fellow Illinoisan Bishop Ronald Hicks of the Diocese of Joliet to take over the 4,683 square-mile archdiocese that serves over 1.5 million Catholics.

Cardinal Dolan — who has served as archbishop of New York since his appointment by the late Pope Benedict XVI in February 2009 — will continue to serve as the apostolic administrator until the installation of his 58-year-old replacement at Saint Patrick's Cathedral on Feb. 6, 2026.

'Running the New York archdiocese is a daunting task.'

Archbishop-designate Hicks, a native of Harvey, Illinois, will be the 14th bishop and 11th archbishop of the See of New York.

In addition to his time as bishop of Joliet, Hicks previously served in El Salvador as the regional director of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, a home dedicated to caring for thousands of orphaned and abandoned children in various Latin American and Caribbean countries; dean of formation at Mundelein Seminary; vicar general of the Archdiocese of Chicago; and auxiliary bishop of Chicago.

Hicks is no stranger to the pope, having spoken with him at length just last year.

After Pope Leo's election, Hicks sung the Chicago native's praises and told WGN-TV, "I recognize a lot of similarities between him and me. So we grew up literally in the same radius, in the same neighborhood together."

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Rev. David Boettner, one of Hicks' former classmates at Mundelein Seminary, told Faith magazine in 2020, "As a seminarian and as a priest, he has always had a deep love of people and a generosity of his time to serve the needs of others."

"He has always lived his promise of obedience to the Church, and his first answer when asked to serve is almost always yes," added Boettner.

Rev. James Presta, a priest who worked with Hicks at Mundelein and at St. Joseph College Seminary, said, "He has been a mentor to young priests. He offers them fraternal support and sound, practical wisdom as a brother priest."

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, stressed that Cardinal Dolan will be missed.

"He is a very special man. He always fought for justice, and his amiable character won the applause of Catholics and non-Catholics alike. He was certainly very kind to me," Donohue said in a statement. "His fairness never stood in the way of being outspoken about contemporary issues. He was not tied to the politics of the left or the right."

While tethered neither to the left nor the right, Dolan called on Catholics to "be very active, very informed, and very involved in politics"; criticized the perverse secular culture that "seems to discover new rights every day"; championed religious liberty; and defended Christian morality, especially as it pertains to marriage and the rights of the unborn.

"Running the New York archdiocese is a daunting task, but it is one that suits the new archbishop," noted Donohue. "Archbishop Ronald Hicks is young and vibrant and will be able to put his considerable administrative experience to good use. We look forward to working with him."

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