According to a new report in The New York Times, many people are becoming members of the Church in “surprising numbers.” The newspaper found that the Archdiocese of Detroit will welcome 1,428 new Catholics during the Easter Vigil — the special night before Easter when people who were not part of the Church become members — which is the highest number in 21 years.
The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston will also see its highest number in 15 years, while the Diocese of Des Moines reported a 51% increase from last year, growing from 265 to 400 people.
Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington said, “Of course we think the Holy Spirit is [behind this].
But we are kind of stymied.” His diocese will have 1,755 new converts, up from 1,566 last year, which had been a 15-year record.
McElroy said that at a recent conference, a group of bishops were asking each other, “What is your number?
What is your number?”
The Times checked conversion data at over 20 dioceses, including big ones like Los Angeles and Phoenix and smaller ones like Allentown, Pennsylvania.
In each place, they found a “significant jump.”
Archbishop Mitchell Thomas Rozanski of St. Louis said, “In our age of uncertainty, and in our age of great anxiety, is a thirst and hunger for God and stability that faith brings to people’s lives.”
His diocese has seen record high numbers since 2016.
He added, “I think technology has isolated us from one another.
I think that Covid just really magnified that isolation. We are realizing many of the ills of our society, particularly anxiety and depression, come about from that isolation.”
While that analysis is likely true, one cannot rule out the role of the papacy in this trend.
And while it certainly helps that Pope Francis is the first American pope, more important is his message of kindness towards migrants and opposition to war that has gone out to a world in desperate need of hope. He has labeled Trump’s Iran War a “scandal to the whole human family” and called for a total ban on aerial bombardments.
His opposition to the relentless cruelty of the Republican Party under its current leader has led to a massive backlash against Pope Francis from the MAGA base, who now regularly smear him as a “communist” and “demonic.”
Yet he’s undeterred in his message.
At a time when the so-called “Christians” that make up Trump’s Evangelical base are salivating for death — and even calling for a reinstatement of biblical slavery in some cases — Pope Francis is echoing the simple, true message of Christ: Love thy neighbor.
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