Sacred Surge

Near and far, converts fueling rising numbers of new Catholics

Repeatedly, Dave Lewis would pull his white Ford F-150 into the parish parking lot at Saint John the Baptist in Edmond … and sit there, staring through the windshield.

He watched and waited as the regulars streamed through the doors, conjuring up courage to venture inside amid the fear he’d be spotted as an obvious outsider, whether failing at “Catholic calisthenics” or for some other imagined reason. The doubt led him to fire the car back up and drive away.

Yet Lewis, a former Presbyterian pastor, kept returning in his pickup, convinced he was in the right place, and that the time was right as a deeper study had moved him away from Protestant beliefs and steered him toward Catholicism. The final step: checking out the Mass.

“If I'm going to go Catholic, I gotta go to Mass, I've actually gotta go in there,” Lewis told himself. “But I don't know how. I don't know any of the moves. I don't know when to stand up, sit down, kneel. I'm gonna stand out like a sore thumb.

“What if I see someone that knows I'm Presbyterian? They're going to tell everybody.”
And the parking lot scene wasn’t limited to Edmond, replicated by Lewis in Temple and Palestine, Texas, too, always with a promise of “next time.”

Eventually, that next time actually arrived, and as Lewis said, he “bit the bullet and walked in.” And it changed his life.

“It just felt like, ‘yep, this is right where I need to be,’” he said.

Lewis entered the Church at Easter in 2025, part of a larger OCIA group from across the archdiocese, seen as a pleasant increase.

Seems it was only the start of something bigger – locally, nationally and abroad, with reports of record numbers of adults becoming Catholic this spring, prompting stories of a “surge” or even a Catholic “boom.”

Time for a new narrative?
“For many years it has been reported that a growing number of people – especially young people – characterize themselves as ‘spiritual but not religious,’” said Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City. “Evidence drawn from the dramatic increase in number of adult baptisms this Easter in our archdiocese, as well as around the country and in many other western countries, seems to contradict that narrative.

“For whatever reason we are witnessing an astonishing increase in the number of people entering the Catholic Church through baptism or entering into full communion with us from other Christian communities. It is probably too soon to say this is a new trend, but it is certainly clear that the Church is alive and that the Lord is still at work among us!”

Here in the archdiocese, the number of new Catholics jumped from 635 in 2025 to 1,016 this year – an increase of 63%. At many dioceses in the U.S., numbers rose, and in some places, soared.

In Minnesota, the Diocese of Duluth was up 145%. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, plus 139%. The Diocese of Rapid City (South Dakota), plus 96%. The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee (Florida), plus 85%.

And the list goes on and on. And this after marked growth in 2025.

The rise in number of Catholics is seen at Catholic universities in the U.S., and it is seen in Europe and elsewhere, with 22,000 entering the Church in France at Easter, with rises also reported in England, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands.

So what’s behind this fresh attraction to the Church? Likely a variety of reasons.

Converts often point to deeper dives into theological and historical truth leading them to Catholicism. In a world of rising uncertainty, some find themselves drawn to the Church’s consistent teaching and structure. Many point to the Eucharist as a major pull.

Recent decades have also revealed an increase in Catholic influencers and voices. At the parish level, there are more methods of evangelizing through improved studies, programs and events.

Young adults – Gen Z – make up a significant portion of those finding their way to the faith, whether searching for truth from Christianity’s oldest religion, or through an appreciation of beauty, history and traditions.

In the U.S., the election of the Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, is another possible factor.
Whatever the reason, this moment is welcome.

“In a certain sense, the Church is experiencing simultaneous decline and growth,” said Father Jerome Krug, associate pastor at Saint Eugene Catholic Church in Oklahoma City. “At the level of culture, the influence of Christian values and the Catholic faith is decreasing. We are entering into what has been termed an apostolic age. And yet the vitality of the life of the Church seems stronger than ever.

“This reminds me of when a young theologian by the name of Joseph Ratzinger once said that the Church of the next century will be marked by being “smaller yet purer.” But what does this mean for us experientially? To me it means that outside the Church it will appear that the Church is dwindling, but within the Church it will appear that she is thriving. The Church is smaller in terms of prominence and privilege in society and yet stronger in terms of faith and vitality in her members.”

Special journeys
Hannah Thomas grew up nondenominational, but her grandmother was Catholic, so she always had some awareness of what was going on in the Church. It was her grandmother, too, who provided the entire family with rosaries.

Hannah put hers to use.

“I felt it in my hand and I was like, ‘this feels right,’” she said.

At the age of 16, she started praying the rosary regularly.

“I kept it with me and anytime I was stressed out, I'd just find myself holding it,” Thomas said. “And then I kind of just started figuring out how to pray it and it made me feel lighter.”

Studying law at the University of Oklahoma, she found herself “surrounded by Catholics.” A friend invited her to Mass. Soon, that friend became her OICA sponsor, ushering Thomas across the finish line at Saint Joseph Old Cathedral at Easter.

Grandma is happy, too.

“I’m her favorite grandkid now,” Thomas said with a laugh.

Doug Riley and Jacob Shelton were each among the new Catholics entering the Church at Sacred Heart Catholic Church at the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in south Oklahoma City.

Riley grew up Lutheran, yet found himself searching a bit. He spent time discovering other faiths when a friend invited him to Mass.

“I thought, ‘Well, that’s one I haven’t tried yet.”

It became the one that stuck.

And he’s aware of the surge of new Catholics like him.

“I feel like, yes, I’m a part of it. I’m just ecstatic.”

Shelton was raised Protestant, but said he rebelled and considered himself an atheist for some 20 years.

“I never felt connected to the church as a young person, despite being very active – youth group, summer camps, mission trips, bible study, etc.,” he said.

The Catholic Church, he said, offered something alluring.

“It’s the original Christianity.”

Shelton found the Easter Vigil “incredible and moving.”

“The procession into the dark building was quite striking,” he said. “In the days that followed, I’ve felt so grateful to have found my way to the Church and I’m looking forward to my journey in my newfound faith.”

Quin Tran’s family fled South Vietnam as refugees, landing in the U.S. in1975, when Tran was only 3. The family was Catholic, however, the parents wanted their children to have the freedom to choose their own faith. It took a while, but Tran’s journey returned to the faith of her family, received into the Church at Easter at Saint John the Baptist in Edmond.

“I feel like I was meant to be Catholic from my birth, just because of my family and the history,” Tran said. “And so that's what drew us in. I feel like I've always known I was Catholic because I believe in everything that the Catholic Church teaches, all the values and all of the sacraments.

“It's just been an amazing journey with God.”

It’s been quite the journey for Dave Lewis, who served as a lector at the vigil that welcomed Tran – and 89 others – into the Church at Saint John.

He does still have a congregation of sorts: students at Bishop John Carroll Catholic School, where Lewis teaches social studies and, notably, theology, which is what initially led him to the Catholic Church.

“When I came into the church, in the back of my mind was I want to go somewhere that's permanent. I want to go somewhere that has liturgy that reaches back 2,000 years,” Lewis said. “And I want to have something I know that I can somewhat believe the leaders are in prayer and thinking about, and they're not just deciding on cultural whims.

“And so for me, my wife and I kind of felt that I know at the Catholic Church, and I'm not trying to say it's perfect, but I think that idea of permanence is very much attractive today.”

John Helsley is editor of the Sooner Catholic.

Photo: (Above) Dave Lewis entered the Church at Easter in 2025 at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Edmond. Photo provided.

Msgr. Willian Novak, V.G. blessed Quin Tran at the Easter Vigil Mass on April 4 at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Edmond. Photo Chris Porter.