By Editor-in-Chief, Timothy Gocklin, MBA, MSF
Why Young Adults Are Turning to Catholicism in 2025
In a time of spiritual confusion and cultural chaos, a remarkable trend is taking place:
Young adults in their 20s and 30s are becoming Catholic at incredible rates. Dioceses all over the U.S. are reporting a dramatic increase in adult conversions—some experiencing year-to-year growth of 50% to 70%. This counterintuitive renewal is not the result of cultural heritage, but a quest for depth, order, and truth in a time many call morally and spiritually adrift.
A Return to Reverence
Many of these new believers cite a deep-seated discontent with what they describe as “lax” or casual Protestant churches. For some, the modern worship experience felt more like a concert or community gathering than a spiritual experience with God. Others were uncomfortable with the lack of theological consistency or spiritual discipline.
Sydney Johnston, a millennial living in New York City, grew up in a nondenominational Christian household. But when she was an adult, she found herself attracted to something more.
“There’s something so beautiful and transcendent about the rituals and the ancient history in the Catholic Mass,” she said.
“The church does convey a level of reverence that I didn’t find in the more liberal, laissez-faire style of nondenominational churches.”
Johnston’s path to Catholicism was not an easy one. Like so many, she left her church in early life. But the COVID-19 pandemic brought a time of religious searching. By herself and in contemplation, she began reading the Bible more seriously and was attracted to the form, tradition, and beauty of Catholic existence. She was formally confirmed in December 2024 at the Church of Notre Dame on Morningside Heights.
The Virtual Gateway to Faith
Historically, converts may have learned about Catholicism from family and friends or through campus ministries. But in 2025, a lot of young adults are discovering the Church on the internet.
Adrian Lawson, a software developer from Southern California who is 30, was raised nondenominational and became an atheist in his teenage years. But while he was suffering from anxiety and depression in his early 20s, he began to turn to religion to make sense of the difficulties of life. He was drawn at first to evangelical churches, but it wasn’t until he caught wind of a YouTube debate between Catholic and Protestant over Church history that he began to reconsider his views.
Among the most quoted influences for young converts is Cameron Bertuzzi, a former YouTube Protestant content creator whose own 2023 conversion to Catholicism has inspired thousands of people. His open process and detailed explanations of theology, Church hierarchy, and early Christian history have been called “red pill moments” by his fans. For Lawson, watching videos by Bertuzzi helped resolve lingering questions and resulted in his own conversion in 2024.
Lawson is now a catechist, or lay instructor of the faith, and reports having witnessed firsthand the increase in young adults joining the Church.
“There’s a hunger for something real, something solid,” he said.
“There are a lot of young people who are feeling spiritually lost in a world that can’t give them a deeper meaning.”
From Culture to Calling
This movement is not just about disillusion with other Christianity. It is also an indicator of growing unhappiness with secular modern culture, which many youth feel lacks moral definition or existence meaning.
“People are weary of moral relativism,” says Rev. Raymond Maria La Grange of New York’s Church of St. Vincent Ferrer.
“They hunger for structure, beauty, and tradition. Something that doesn’t change with the latest fad.”
Converts will usually define themselves as more orthodox than cradle Catholics, embracing habits like praying the rosary, attending Latin Mass, or studying the early Church Fathers. For them, Catholicism is not merely a religion but a way of life that roots them in an otherwise unstable time.
Marin Minamiya, 28 and from childhood a Japan-raised, Shinto-reared Catholic convert, came to embrace the faith at Columbia University while pursuing a degree in information science. She spoke of the faith as giving her confidence, a sense of purpose, and virtue-sharing fellowship.
“Being Catholic makes me a better person,” she said.
“It keeps me aware that God is good—and that there’s sense in the things we suffer and work for.”
The Pandemic’s Lasting Influence
The pandemic due to COVID-19 seems to have played a forefront part in this religious phenomenon. When the world closed down, most young adults felt isolated and alone. A few started questioning religious stuff that they had always avoided. Others were disturbed by how vulnerable life is and how much secular solutions have nothing to offer.
“What with being in lockdown, I found time to think,” Johnston remarked.
“I just started reading the Bible and found so much wisdom and beauty and meaning there.”
Her narrative is one mirrored by many others of her age group who went through the pandemic reconnecting to their spiritual foundation—or planting anew. What initially was a cursory interest by some became multiyear pilgrimages through Christian sects culminating in conversion to Catholicism.
A Faith That Demands Commitment
Becoming Catholic isn’t easy. Converts have to go through proper instruction through the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA), generally over several months. It encompasses study, prayer, and habitual Mass attendance before an individual can be baptized or confirmed.
For Taylor New, a 27-year-old insurance agent from Cincinnati, becoming Catholic meant giving up an open-armed evangelical community.
“I begged God not to make me Catholic,” she said.
“But after researching for months, I decided it was the only real expression of Christianity.”
Despite her apprehensions, New completed her OCIA process in 2024. Looking back, she attributes YouTube and the internet with taking her to the truth.
“There’s a treasure trove of information on the internet,” she said.
“Young people are searching—and what they’re finding is Catholicism.”
A Generation Seeking Truth
The resurgence of Catholicism among young adults defies many of the assumptions made about Gen Z and millennials. Portrayed as disaffiliated or secular, this group is showing to be spiritually hungry—but not unsophisticated.
They’re not just turning back to religion out of habit. They’re doing their research. They’re reading debates, studying theology, and staying abreast of centuries of Catholic doctrine on the internet. To many, intellectual and spiritual rigor is part of its appeal.
Rev. La Grange believes this is only the beginning.
“The young are finding that the world can’t give them moral order or meaning. Catholicism does.”
Final Thoughts
While the broader culture seems to be drifting away from institutional religion, young adults across America are moving quietly but powerfully toward the Catholic Church. Motivated by a thirst for depth, structure, and truth, they are gravitating toward a faith that offers not only answers—but a way of life.
This new age conversion renaissance is not a turning back the clock, but instead a reinvention of religion in an age of technology—where even the most hallowed traditions can be rejuvenated online.
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