The Coming Deluge of Converts

Dear Catholic bishops, Your Excellencies, you have no idea what is coming. Not a single diocese in the world is prepared for the deluge of young converts that is about to come. The only thing holding them back is Pope Francis and liberal clergy. As these men fade away, this large surge of young converts is going to turn into a deluge. Your parishes won’t be big enough. You won’t have enough priests. It’s coming. You couldn’t stop it, even if you wanted to…

The United States
Sydney Johnston grew up in a nondenominational Christian household — but now the Upper West Side millennial is a devout Catholic. “There’s just something so beautiful and transcendent about the rituals and the ancient history in the Catholic Mass that’s been preserved,” Johnston, 30, told The Post. “The church really communicates a degree of reverence that I didn’t find in the more liberal, laissez-faire approach of nondenominational churches.”
— Young people are converting to Catholicism en masse, New York Post, Rikki Schlott, April 17, 2025

The United Kingdom
According to a study from the Bible Society, The Quiet Revival, published this week, Anglicans have been overtaken and are now outnumbered by Catholics by more than two to one among Generation Z and younger millennial churchgoers in Britain… According to the bishops and priests preparing people to take this momentous step, there is a common theme emerging: these new entrants know what the Roman Catholic Church stands for. “When you meet them and hear their stories, they say they are looking for clarity and stability,” says Archbishop Mark O’Toole of Cardiff. “They are attracted to the Catholic Church’s strong sense of identity and clarity around the teaching of Jesus”.
— The extraordinary resurgence of the Catholic faith in Britain, The Telegraph, Catherine Pepinster, April 13, 2025

France
France’s Catholic Church will welcome more than 10,384 adult catechumens at Easter this year, marking a 45% increase from 2024 figures, according to data released by the French Bishops’ Conference… The 18-25 age group, composed of students and young professionals, now represents 42% of adult catechumens, surpassing the 26-40 demographic that had historically dominated conversion statistics. This youth-driven spiritual awakening represents a significant shift in the Church’s evangelization landscape. Additionally, adolescent baptisms have surged, with more than 7,400 teenagers between 11 and 17 years old preparing to receive the sacrament. Dioceses across France report a 33% increase in adolescent catechumens compared to last year. The French Bishops’ Conference intentionally connected this year’s data to the Jubilee of Young People in Rome, describing the event as “a meeting place for young catechumens from around the world.” The trend mirrors similar developments seen elsewhere in Europe. The National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister publication, recently reported unprecedented attendance at Ash Wednesday Masses across France this year, with churches experiencing standing-room-only congregations and an influx of young people.
— Record Number of Adult Baptisms in France Shows Surge Among Youth, National Catholic Register, AC Wimmer, April 13, 2025

Something very big is happening, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. What we are seeing here is just the early signs of the first wave of conversions. It’s only going to increase, and this is in spite of Pope Francis and liberal clergy, not because of them. Your Excellencies, you must prepare. I’ve seen this before. It happened in Protestantism back in the 1970s and 80s. (I was actually part of it.) This was the time of explosive growth in the Evangelical world. You can learn more about that here…

That was then, this is now, and what worked back then won’t work today. Many of our older priests, bishops (and even the pope) are still working on this old 1970s model. Newsflash: Young people haven’t been interested in that for decades!!!

What if I told you that what is about to happen will be bigger than the Jesus Revolution of the 1970s? What if I told you the Jesus Revolution of Evangelical Protestantism in the United States was only a small precursor to the kind of revival the Catholic Church is about to experience? Unlike the hippies of that generation, the young people of today aren’t looking for feel-good, rock-n-roll Christianity. They’re looking for something with substance! They’re looking for tradition! They’re looking for orthodoxy! They’re looking for identity! And that, Your Excellencies, is a hunger much stronger than what the hippies had. The hippies were just looking for a churches that would accept their weirdness. Generation Z is looking for a reason to exist! They’re looking for a sense of truth, stability, hope and identity. The hippies were just having an emotional crisis. Generation Z is having an existential crisis.

Only two expressions of Christianity fit the bill for Generation Z: Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Since, however, Orthodoxy is a bit harder to find, and minuscule in numbers, the vast majority of GenZ will turn to Catholicism. If you think a lot are converting now, you haven’t seen anything yet. Pope Francis, liberal clergy, banal liturgy and doctrinal innovation are actually holding this generation back. In spite of that, what seems like a large number are converting to Catholicism anyway. Once these obstacles are removed, however, the floodgates will pour open, and you’ll have more young converts than you know what to do with.

Would you like to accelerate this process in your diocese? Here’s the formula. Take it or leave it…

• If you have any liberal priests in your diocese, who just couldn’t be orthodox if you bribed them, it’s time for them to retire or move into some other role, where they won’t be interacting with the youth coming in. Trust me when I say they will scare the youth off.
• Get your younger priests into leadership roles in your diocese ASAP !!!!
• Tell all the priests in your diocese you want to see more traditional celebrations of the 2002 Roman Missal (Novus Ordo Mass), and they have one-year to get it done.Here are some examples: Restore traditional Catholic music and chant. Turn the priest ad orientum during the Liturgy of the Eucharist part of the Mass. Use incense and bells generously. Restore Greek to the Kyrie, and Latin to the Sanctus and Agnus Dei, in all Masses. Remove the dispensation for communion in the hand, and make communion on the tongue mandatory, with kneeling for those who are physically able.
• Tell all the priests in your diocese you want more orthodox and expository homilies, and explain the readings at Mass in a traditional Catholic way, no innovations, no liberal scholarship, just good, old-fashioned, Catholic preaching.
• Divide your O.C.I.A. (R.C.I.A.) courses into quarterly sessions that run year round. Get used to this now, because you’re gonna need it. Also, consider more traditional forms of catechesis, such as CREDO (by Bishop Athanasius Schneider) for teens and adults, and the old Baltimore Catechism for families with young children.
• Get in touch with your diocese. If you’re not doing weekly audio or video messages, for your whole diocese, then you’re doing something wrong. You should be doing these messages, and you should make sure every Catholic, in every parish or mission, knows how to easily access them online.
• Start organizing a lot more Eucharistic processions, and Eucharistic adoration. “Curiosity killed the cat,” as they say. This will attract even more young converts.

If you want to share with your priests a basic templet for what the 2002 Roman Missal (Novus Ordo Mass) should look like, here’s an excellent example…

Shane Schaetzel is an author of Catholic books and he is an Evangelical convert to the Catholic Church. His articles have been featured on LifeSiteNews, The Remnant Newspaper, Forward in Christ, and Catholic Online. You can read Shane’s books at ShaneSchaetzel.Com