VANCOUVER (CCN) — Spiritual curiosity is on the rise at Vancouver-area university campuses. Where student baptisms were once a celebrated rarity, the Canadian Catholic Outreach (CCO) team leader at UBC says they can now expect one or two baptisms a year, with many more students joining faith programs and discussions.
Nearly a decade ago, Mathew Joseph recalled a baptism taking place in his first year as a student at UBC. It was an event. “There was this big excitement,” he said. “It was like something out of a movie.”
Joseph says it is now common to speak with students who were not raised religious but who encountered a faith perspective through social media or YouTube that left them curious.
COVID also played a role in the cultural shift. “[For students] the world around them was really falling apart,” he said. “There was a lot of spiritual curiosity.”
At Simon Fraser University, CCO campus team leader Miguel Andres said a similar trend has emerged. Two to three students a year now approach CCO SFU intending to begin the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. Three or four years ago, that number was zero.
This development on Vancouver campuses is part of a broader North American trend of increased student interest in spirituality, conversions, baptisms, and confirmations.
For example, at Arizona State University, the Newman Center is experiencing its largest group of students entering the Church. Ryan Ayala, a former seminarian and campus minister who has served at ASU for three years, oversees evangelization efforts.
“This past semester, we welcomed 52 students into the Church at Christ the King Parish” in Mesa, Ayala said. “And we are expecting 50 more for the Easter Vigil this spring.” According to Ayala, this marks a record number of students received into the Catholic Church at ASU.
Each year, ASU’s campus ministry prepares students for baptism, confirmation, and full communion through a fall vigil held in collaboration with Christ the King Parish. Students come from a wide range of backgrounds: some encounter Christianity for the first time, others come from Protestant communities, and still others are baptized Catholics completing their sacraments.
This year’s group included eight catechumens who were baptized, 26 Christians who made affirmations of faith, and a significant number of Catholics who received confirmation. The ceremony took place on the feast of Christ the King, Nov. 23.
Ayala attributes the growth in part to simple, consistent outreach. “No phone call goes unanswered,” he said. Students come from Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, and nondenominational evangelical backgrounds. Those not yet baptized often come from nonreligious homes, and two identified as atheists. One Muslim student is expected to join the program in January. ASU enrolls approximately 200,000 students.
Overall, participation in ASU’s OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults) program has more than doubled. “This is by far the biggest class we’ve had,” Ayala said.
Supporting this expansion are missionaries from the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), who lead Bible studies and accompany students in their growing faith. Ayala supervises the missionaries and has completed FOCUS formation himself. The Newman Center offers a focused nine-week OCIA process—shorter than the traditional yearlong program—requiring weekly sessions alongside FOCUS Bible studies.
Reflecting on the surge of interest, Ayala sees both cultural and pastoral dynamics at work. “Two things are going on in this surge. There’s a trend in Gen Z. They are asking deeper, philosophical, and theological questions. Some students were shaken up by the shooting of Charlie Kirk. The other thing is simply responding to emails. I ask my staff to be diligent with inquirers. The most important thing is to respond and give them clarity about how to become Catholic.”
“Our main strategy is to have an urgency to respond to them,” he added. “It was so moving to see all those students from other faith traditions stand up and make the commitment to become Catholic.”
Ayala also noted the role of Catholic media, highlighting one student influenced by Father Mike Schmitz’s online ministry. He further praised the spiritual guidance of Father Bill Clements, who leads the Newman Center. “He does a great job humanizing the priesthood while also removing many of the anxieties newcomers to the faith may have.”
Clements, who has directed the Newman Center for 15 years, reports that about 400 students participate in weekly FOCUS Bible studies, and approximately 1,500 attend one of six weekend Masses. He said he has seen a clear shift in the past two years.
“In the last two years, a switch was flipped. I think people are tired of crazy. They’re hungry for direction, truth, goodness, and beauty. We have one of the most beautiful Newman chapels in the country,” he said, “and that has been a huge attraction.”
To meet growing demand, Clements expanded the OCIA schedule. “I revamped the OCIA process here. When people would contact me at this time of year, I would have to tell them that we start in the fall. But I couldn’t stand making people wait. So now I have three sessions: fall, spring, and summer.”
He credited FOCUS missionaries for their close accompaniment of students. “They appeal to students. It affords them a chance to connect with other Catholics, and it’s been instrumental in reviving interest in the Church. The missionaries work hard,” he said.
One student, Yailen Cho, received baptism and confirmation on Nov. 23 at the ASU Newman Chapel. She told CNA: “I didn’t grow up very religious at all. My dad became Catholic two years ago, but I didn’t have any religious background.”
Cho now regularly attends Mass and says the FOCUS program helped deepen her reading of the Gospels. Reflecting on her journey, she said: “I’d had a prayer relationship with God for a while, and I had prayed that my heart would be softened towards God.”
After wrestling with questions of faith, she reached out to the Newman Center, which she described as “very warm and welcoming.”
Directing a message to others considering the Catholic faith, she said: “I want everyone to be happy, and I want to be happy. If you live by the Word, as the Bible says, you can be happy in heaven forever.”
Similar growth is being seen at other major Catholic campuses.
At the University of Notre Dame, a record 76 students are enrolled in the school’s Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA) program, reflecting the same surge in student interest seen on campuses across North America. The group includes 42 catechumens, 12 candidates for full communion, and 22 Catholic candidates preparing for confirmation. The growth continues a recent trend, with enrolment rising from 33 students in 2023 to 52 in 2024, and particularly strong gains among those who have never been baptized.
Among them is Alex Huang, a first-year student from Minnesota who had only ever entered a church for a piano recital before arriving at Notre Dame. Raised by parents who did not practice religion, he became curious about Catholicism in high school and is now preparing to enter the Church at the Easter vigil. “I went to a public high school, where nobody really talked about their religion,” he said. “But when I got to Notre Dame, people would mention their faith all the time, and that was super jarring — not in a negative way, but really interesting and new to me.”
Brett Perkins, assistant director for evangelization and religious education with Notre Dame’s Campus Ministry, said the increase reflects a deeper movement among young people searching for meaning. “I think the questions that people are wrestling with and the experiences of life remain the same, but perhaps there’s been a bit more of an awakening to start to pay attention to the longing in the human heart,” he said.
At the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Rita Zyber, OCIA coordinator at St. Mary Student Parish, said 50 students are currently preparing to enter the Church. Last Easter, 30 students were received, compared with about 20 in 2024.
With daily liturgies and seven weekend Masses, the parish remains consistently full. One Mass was added this year to accommodate increased attendance. “They are packed,” Zyber said.
Reflecting on the increase, she said: “There is so much chaos in the world. They are looking for structure, stability, and some grounding in God.”
The parish is staffed by Jesuit priests whose Ignatian spirituality resonates strongly with students, Zyber said. She added that other campus and parish OCIA programs across Michigan are seeing similar growth.
In a report last year in the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, Father Ryan Kaup, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Church and Newman Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, described the current situation as “a golden age of campus ministry.”
Kaup reported that last spring, 72 converts entered the Church at the Easter Vigil. So far this semester, 125 students have already expressed interest in joining the Church, he said.
With files from Catholic News Agency and Abby Strelow, University of Notre Dame.
