Expert Gives Take On "Conversion Boom" and Numbers of New Catholics

Even my tiny rural parish, St Weceslaus in the Diocese of Lincoln, had a "reception into full Communion" last night. I put the phrase in quotes because I "converted to the Catholic Church" almost 45 years ago.

From Aleteia

By Jenny Lark Snarski

“What may have motivated non-Catholic Gen-Xers to become Catholic is not what drives Gen Zs now,” says a leader in discipleship. And the big question: Now what?

The number of converts and those coming into full communion with the Catholic Church continues to make headlines in Catholic and even secular news media. Sherry Weddell, founder of the Catherine of Siena Institute, has been closely following the reports, sharing and gathering first-hand accounts via her “Forming Intentional Disciples” Facebook group.

The author of the 2012 book Forming Intentional Disciples: The Path to Knowing and Following Jesus (revised and expanded in 2022) has taken up the mission of helping parishes -- the most accessible “house of formation” for lay Catholics. Similar to resources offered in the seminary for priests and novitiate for religious, Wedell has offered the Called and Gifted charism discernment process around the world since the mid 1990s. 

Answering questions for Aleteia, Wedell clarified that individual dioceses are where the numbers of new Catholics come from, and those vary widely from country to country. “We don’t know what the global pattern in every diocese on earth is because not every diocese attempts or has the capacity to actually track and compile those numbers.” She added that the Vatican’s annual reports are based on loose estimates by local clergy, and not a rigorous count.

Still, acknowledging the “hopeful numbers” are “very exciting,” she said they stand out after the “drop in Mass attendance and new baptisms/receptions due to COVID, which is why they have been so widely reported.”

Since 2024, significant increases have been reported from the U.S., France, Australia, and others, but some countries, such as Germany, have not seen similar growth. 

Changing patterns

Wedell gave more data points: “The number of adults entering the Church [in the United States] through baptism or reception since Vatican II topped out at 172,000 (per CARA) in 1999 and then began to decline slowly but steadily in the 2000s. Of course, COVID artificially suppressed those numbers since public Masses were stopped for 1 to 3 years (depending upon the diocese and country).  

“The low point was in 2020 when adult entrances into the global Church fell to their lowest reported number (70,796). The latest number for global adult baptisms/receptions we have is from 2024 is 92,000 which is an 8.8% (10,779) rise over 2023.”

One significant point Wedell shared is that one of the challenges in grasping “what exactly is happening” is that before 2000, adult baptisms (over age 18) were always counted separately from those of infants and children. “So you could know that you were comparing apples and apples rather than apples and oranges over the years."

“As dioceses began celebrating public Masses post-COVID, there has been a significant drop in the number of infant (7 and under) baptisms reported, and an increase in older children's (make-up) baptisms (ages 8 - 17).”

She said some dioceses seem to be merging the categories of adult and older children baptisms/receptions and reporting those numbers together, making it impossible to compare the current numbers meaningfully to the pre-COVID stats.

There simply isn’t any way to know if reports of young adults comprise the majority of new/fully initiated Catholics because no one is tracking numbers in a uniform way, she explained. At this point, while hopeful and exciting, reports are still anecdotal

Tracking change through stories

But the reports are there, even if anecdotally. Pinpointing what is driving these conversions is difficult, Wedell said. To analyze it well would be “staggeringly complicated, labor-intensive, and expensive," she explained. It would require surveying tens of thousands whose “stories and motivations would be all over the map.”  

She recalled a 2000 study of the RCIA (now OCIA) by the U.S. bishops, finding it interesting that young adults were asked if they were entering the Church primarily for marriage/family reasons — yes for 88% — or a personal spiritual quest — 12%. Wedell sees this approach helpful and repeatable but understanding “exactly what kind of personal spiritual quest was the driver” would be decidedly more complex and expensive to study. 

“I do think that the percentage of those adults entering for 'personal spiritual quest' reasons is growing in their 20s since we know that the numbers of Catholic marriages have dropped dramatically,” Wedell offered. 

More importantly, she sees that as the spiritual quest element becomes more of a driving factor, “it will begin to change the spiritual culture or norm of some parishes in the U.S. Becoming Catholic through a personal spiritual journey is very different from changing one's religious identity primarily to please one's fiancée or extended family.”

Here is a look at numbers in France from last year, from a study that Aleteia cooperated in:

Although Wedell and her colleagues have worked in 95% of American dioceses over the past 28 years, their efforts have been primarily focused on helping those already Catholic to begin and make the journey to intentional discipleship. 

“What may have motivated non-Catholic Gen-Xers to become Catholic is not what drives Gen Zs now,” she offered.

Sharing an anecdote from one veteran OCIA director in the Southern U.S., Wedell relayed, “100% of her 40+ young adults entering at Easter were on a personal spiritual quest, but then the majority were from evangelical background and that would make sense.” If it were a group from Seattle or New England, Wedell said their stories would likely be different because of their differing spiritual backgrounds. “Which doesn't mean that all who are entering are intentional disciples by any means,” she said, “but they are probably on a personal spiritual journey.”  

She offered another anecdote of an older man she’d recently met who is entering the Church at Easter. He told her that Jesus talked to him. This man has recently faced serious health problems and seemed to be wrestling with a new awareness of his mortality. “That is not the sort of story that you hear from most young adults!” she emphasized. 

Not just baptizing, but forming lifelong faith

For this international discipleship formator, the most important question is how practicing Catholics can, and need to, help support, mentor, and accompany those coming into the Church. 

“Traditionally, we put all our effort into the pre-reception catechesis and then typically just drop new Catholics into that big Catholic ocean and let 'em sink or swim," Wedell notes. 

“Ideally, we'd have thought through this before they begin OCIA: how to help catechumens and candidates to move through the spiritual thresholds laid out in Forming Intentional Disciples before and after Easter.”

She noted there are always variables, but the best scenario would be having “disciple-sponsors who have been trained to function as ‘Ananias-style’ evangelizing companions throughout OCIA and have planned ongoing small group personal and spiritual support throughout that first year at least."

“Simply connecting people to local ministries is not going to be enough.”

Her reference to Ananias is from Acts of the Apostles; he was the man charged by Jesus to go to Paul of Tarsus and teach him the faith after Paul's conversion experience on the way to Damascus.

In a post from March 31 at her Facebook group, one person said he felt it was a shame to have strong intellectual formation in the faith during OCIA, but less training in how to live it. 

Wedell commented, “If we wait until after Easter to cover ‘how to live the faith,’ it is too late. OCIA is supposed to be a whole person spiritual journey throughout … It needs to be a both/and journey throughout.”

Other comments included suggestions: personal testimonies shared throughout OCIA and afterwards connected to living-the-faith topics; having a plan in place with mentorship to move from “faith formation” to “human formation” that help new Catholics discern their gifts and connect to ministries as well as committing to ongoing spiritual growth. Others mentioned small group book studies and helping to match new Catholics with resources (books, programs, prayer apps) for personal use, as well as encouraging in-person retreats and spiritual direction.

From Wedell’s personal experience as a convert, “It took me four years to really identify as ‘Catholic’ interiorly.” She described the process as "so hard."

"If I hadn't been a disciple before I entered, I probably would have left during my first year.” Entering as part of a group that has already been sharing this personal spiritual journey together, as many young adults have, “would make a big difference,” she added. 

The Catherine of Siena Institute has created its own intentional support group for Catholics “who needed more support to ‘stay,’ whether new or cradle Catholics, and it has made a huge difference for many.”