How to Explain the Surge in Conversions

When 60 Minutes is interested in you, you know you’re doing something either really good or really bad. The program’s April 12th segment on the surge in Catholic conversions suggests that the Church is doing something really good. Somehow, we’ve managed to welcome record numbers of converts into the Church, and there are signs the trend will continue, at least for the near future.

Cardinal Robert McElroy proudly noted in the segment that the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., welcomed a record-breaking 1,800 catechumens and candidates into the Church at the Easter Vigil this year. The Dioceses of Norwich, Pueblo, and Rapid City witnessed a virtual 100 percent increase in conversions. The very fact that 60 Minutes decided to draw attention to such “dramatic” changes in Mass attendance, baptisms, and weddings over the past decade is remarkable.

But that’s not the whole story. Last year, 840 people left the Church for every 100 who came in. That trend is on track to remain steady or worsen this year. Many have stopped practicing the Catholic faith all together, and a rising number are switching to Protestant denominations.

The painful truth is that the Catholic Church continues to operate like a revolving door. Few seem willing to admit it. Even more troubling is the inability to track with any precision how many people are actually leaving. Whereas a parish will write your name in the permanent registry when you are baptized, confirmed, and married, no one will notice if you’ve left unless they’re paying close attention.

Informal evidence abounds. A few months ago, I attended the blessing of my friend’s new dentistry clinic. Virtually the entire staff made the Sign of the Cross when the priest began the ceremony, but I had never seen any of them at Mass and have not seen any of them since.

When I mentioned to my son’s baseball coach that he would have to miss a game on Holy Thursday for religious reasons, he quickly replied that he, too, was Catholic and had been thinking about returning to the Church for some time. Through conversations with other parents on the team, I soon found out that half of them felt guilty about choosing baseball over Mass.

To top it all off, a neighbor called me the other day, distraught after his black Labrador had passed away. He figured my family was Catholic since he had seen our Nativity scene in the yard at Christmas time, so he asked if I would come over and say a prayer for his beloved pet. It turns out my neighbor was raised Catholic but quit practicing after high school.

I could go on and on and on, and I’m sure you could too.

A lot of attention has been paid to the male Gen Z converts. Now neophytes, they enter a period of mystagogia. It’s not my place to question their motive for becoming Catholic, but I cannot help but wonder about the quality of the catechesis they are receiving and whether that catechesis will determine if they’ll stay and for how long.

For the most part, catechesis completely collapsed over fifty years ago, and there’s little evidence it’s gotten much better. The “textbook” (long out of print) which I used to prepare for my First Communion in the 1970s was virtually devoid of doctrinal content. That, thank God, has ostensibly improved; but I fear doctrinal content is now considered sufficient for preparation in such a way that a genuine encounter with our Lord—one that transcends the political and ecclesial divide plaguing our country and our Church—is but an afterthought.

The April 60 Minutes segment shows that even the hierarchy makes the case for conversion more complicated than it should be. When asked directly about what’s causing a surge in conversions, the first words out of Cardinal Blase Cupich’s mouth were, “I guess I don’t have an answer to that.”

Excuse me? You don’t have an answer? Granted, CBS will always edit the words of their guests in whatever way they want, but the first words to come out of the Archbishop of Chicago’s mouth should have been: “Jesus Christ! Jesus is the reason they’re coming into the Church!”

As we gradually approach the 50th anniversary of Redemptor Hominis, nothing could be more urgent than offering a prompt and unabashedly Christocentric response to the question of why people are coming into—or should be coming into—the Church. A bishop shouldn’t have to think twice before proffering it.

At least the newly installed Archbishop of New York seems to get it, stating unequivocally that “the world always has and always will need a missionary Church: a Church that proclaims Jesus Christ clearly and without fear.”

During the same 60 Minutes interview quoted above, Cardinal Robert McElroy echoed Cardinal Cupich’s uncertainty about what’s causing the conversions: “We’re not sure what’s bringing it about other than moral leadership.” The show’s host—CBS correspondent Norah O’Donnell—was, of course, quick to point out that the sexual abuse crisis seems to have placed the “moral leadership” of the Church in serious jeopardy. Cardinal Joseph Tobin chimed in to suggest that further study may help the Church understand why the number of converts is rising.

It is quite telling that none of these American hierarchs took the opportunity to make one of the most widely viewed television programs a welcome platform for proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the reason for the Church and her mission and that Jesus Christ is—or, at least, should be—the irresistible draw upon anyone considering making a Profession of Faith and receiving the waters of Baptism.

It’s true that understanding the manifold reasons for which people—especially young people—are entering the Church will only help us strategize on how to effectively proclaim the Good News in a rapidly changing world. But even more fundamental is the need to have a serious reckoning with the mission itself, which is not to provide moral leadership, not to offer social stability, and not to advance a political agenda. Those are all important, but the mission is to preach what we do know, not to research what we don’t.

What we do know is “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). To preach that hardly bodes well for worldly success, but it is the path God revealed to eternal life.

All of this makes the words St. John Paul II proclaimed at the beginning of his pontificate almost fifty years ago more pressing now than they were then: “Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of states, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization and development. Do not be afraid.”