VANCOUVER — Even at St. Peter’s Parish in Nanaimo, the recent — and unexpected — Catholic revival is gaining momentum.
The parish’s pastor, Father Harrison Ayre, has seen rapid growth in recent months. At the start of 2024, weekend Mass attendance was about 650. Now, that number has nearly doubled.
“Just this past January the parish was at 1,000 on the weekend, now we’re at 1,100,” Father Ayre said.
What’s happening in Nanaimo is part of a broader international trend. On April 14, Catholic public intellectual Robert George posted on X: “Something’s happening. It’s happening in France. It’s happening in England. It’s happening in the U.S. I only began noticing it a few weeks ago, on Ash Wednesday. It seems awfully sudden, so perhaps it’s just a blip. If so, though, it’s a widespread blip.”
George was referring to news from the French Catholic Church that 10,384 adult catechumens will be received into the Church this Easter — a 45 per cent increase from 2024. Of those, 42 per cent are between the ages of 18 and 25.
In Britain, the Bible Society released an extensive report in April showing church attendance has increased 55 per cent since 2018. Of the 16 per cent of 18–24-year-olds who attend church regularly, 41 per cent are Catholic. The Catholic Herald ran the headline: “Catholics set to exceed Anglicans for first time since Reformation due to younger churchgoers.”
The Pillar, an online Catholic news outlet, has compiled more international data. Reporter Luke Coppen noted that conversions to Catholicism are rising across Europe, Australia, and even Mongolia.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles welcomed more than 5,500 converts into the Catholic Church this Easter — the largest number in over a decade and a striking figure for the nation’s biggest archdiocese, according to leaders there.
Father Juan Ochoa, who directs the archdiocesan Office for Divine Worship, has been watching the numbers closely and told CNA he didn’t expect the surge.
“We usually see a 10% increase from the year before,” he said. “This year, it was about 45%. That’s significant.”
The group includes nearly 2,800 people baptized at the Easter Vigil — individuals with no previous affiliation to Christianity
While no nationwide Canadian data has been published, several dioceses are reporting record numbers of converts this year. The Archdiocese of Vancouver welcomed 720 catechumens this Easter — 600 new Catholics through baptism and 120 Christians entering full communion — more than double last year’s total.
Priests across Canada are reporting similar trends.
Father Troy Nguyen, chaplain of St. Francis Xavier Chaplaincy based at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Calgary and a member of the diocesan presbyteral council, said 400 adults were baptized this Easter — a significant jump from the five-year average. What surprised him most, however, was the increase in Mass attendance.
“I’ve seen an uptick in Mass attendance, particularly among young adults. On Palm Sunday, it was crazy. The cathedral can hold a thousand people, and it was not completely full, but it was full,” he said.
At St. Peter’s in Nanaimo, growth extends beyond Sunday Mass. More adult catechumens are preparing for sacraments, youth group attendance is rising, and a recent marathon confession day brought in unexpected numbers.
On April 8, Father Ayre organized a 12-hour confession event instead of the typical two-hour service. He scheduled priests throughout the day and warned them, “Bring a book, you might have some dead time.”
There was no “dead time.” People began lining up 15 minutes before the confessionals opened. The final absolution came at 11:15 p.m., with a total of 225 confessions heard.
“I think it’s going to be one of those days that will be a long-term memory for me as a priest. My heart was full,” said Father Ayre.
In Ottawa, at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Shrine, Father Deacon Andrew Bennett has seen a steady increase in young people attending.
“We hold a vespers service every Saturday evening. Five years ago, if we got 30 people, that was pretty good. Now I would guess we’re getting between 60 and 70 consistently,” said Father Bennett.
All of this is unfolding in some of the country’s most secular settings. Father Ayre notes that Nanaimo is considered Canada’s most secular city. Statistics Canada reports that nearly 63 per cent of residents claim no religious affiliation.
In Quebec, where Premier François Legault has proposed a ban on public prayer, nearly 4,000 people took to the streets of Montreal on April 12 for a “Palm Saturday Walk.”
Isabel Correa, director of youth ministry for the Archdiocese of Montreal, said her team was “blown away” by the turnout.
“We used to have a Palm Saturday Walk, but we stopped during the pandemic. The young people kept asking for it, so last year we tested the waters. We had about 750 show up. This year we went viral.”
The speed and scale of this renewal defy easy explanation, but Father Nguyen points to the obvious: “God’s grace is moving, and the Holy Spirit is inspiring people’s hearts.”
“The crazy part is this is all happening without overt evangelization,” said Father Ayre.
Young people entering the Church seem to be searching for the transcendentals — truth, beauty, and goodness.
Father Nguyen says Gen Z — now aged 13 to 28 — have been largely raised without God.
“Their millennial parents have lived without faith, and Gen Z have grown up without any sense of God. They’ve tried it, and it’s not great. They’re experiencing depression, fear, and anxiety — living according to the secular world and usually a nihilistic worldview.”
Father Bennett says that emptiness is leading people to seek something different.
“What I think is drawing people, especially university students, is they realize what they’re being given is thin gruel, and they are looking for meaning. They want beauty, they want truth. I think it’s the parishes that offer a rich liturgical life and solid faith formation for young adults that are seeing this growth.”
“Beauty is a big thing,” said Father Ayre. “We do beautiful liturgy here. I’m a man of the Church. I do what the Church asks me to do — allows me to do — but I make sure we do it well and beautifully.
Canadian Catholic News with B.C. Catholic and Catholic News Agency files
