Holy Saturday
In an article published just last week, The New York Times reported the following: “Roman Catholic Churches See a Surge of New Converts.” Really? I thought church membership and participation had been declining for some years in the US. And that is true. But it turns out that more recently that decline has leveled off.
Okay, so church membership/participation is not in decline at the moment in the US. But a “surge of new converts”? Seriously?
Let’s look at the numbers. Just up the road, the Archdiocese of Detroit will be welcoming 1,428 new Catholics tonight. You have to go back 21 years to find numbers like that in Detroit. The Galveston-Houston Archdiocese will welcome 400 new converts at Easter Vigil up 51% from last year. Apparently, these archdioceses are not alone, as others are having a very similar experience.
The article goes on to talk about possible reasons for the “surge.” Social scientists who conduct surveys about such things say that the chief reasons have to do with anxieties associated with our time of great uncertainty. They say that social isolation is also a big factor. Ever since COVID, they observe, people have felt more alone and are looking for community.
Those possible causes certainly make sense, but they’re also pretty vague. Interestingly, when the Times reporter asked a few new converts why they are becoming Catholic, they said that the reasons are personal—they come out of their personal stories.
I know what they say is true, and not just because that was the case for me when I became Catholic. I know it is true from listening to the stories of the individuals who I (and Bill) have had the pleasure of getting to know over the years when we hosted dismissal with the folks going through OCIA. Their stories are absolutely fascinating. As are their reasons for wanting to come into the Catholic Church.
When we ask folks why they want to convert, many say that they grew up in or tried other churches and found them to be strong on doctrine but weak on faith. The emphasis seemed to be almost entirely on getting the content of one’s Christian beliefs right. And, for them, that didn’t feel all that enriching. Some said that they got tired of all the high-tech wizardry used to jazz things up during worship services. Does the Gospel message really need all that? A very good question.
I remember these conversations so well because each time we had them I thought back to Easter Vigil ten years ago when Bill and I came into the Catholic Church. What I remember most about that extraordinary night was the feeling that we weren’t joining a congregation or even a church so much as a history—a story of the faithful over time with all their extraordinary leaps of faith, acts of courage, and profound failings. Whether the cantor was singing the names of saints or the lectors were making their way through the Bible from Genesis to Matthew or the priest was generously rubbing the Holy Chrism oil on our foreheads or we were taking the beautiful scent of the incense into our lungs, we were fully in it. So much so that it wasn’t until 4 AM before Bill and I could begin to think about going to sleep.
History. Embodiment. Song. Miracle. Sacrament.
What if the Roman Catholic Church is experiencing a surge in new converts because people (contrary to the “wisdom” of many a prognosticator) want to be connected not to just any old community because they’re lonely? What if they’re not simply chasing after the ever-elusive sense of certainty? What if , rather, they are looking to find their place among the cloud of witnesses who have seen and heard things that are too wonderful to explain?
My prayer for all of us (from new converts to the born-and-raised) as we keep vigil tonight: Watch! Listen! Be on the lookout for what we cannot explain that is unfolding right before our very eyes. Amen.
—Susan Trollinger