Priests in New York are reporting a big increase in the number of young Catholics attending mass or converting to the faith.

At one parish, St Joseph’s in Grenwich Village, near New York University, a resident priest says: “Our masses are full. At the 11:30am, there are people all over the balcony. For Ash Wednesday it was out the door, down the steps, down the sidewalk and around the corner to get into church”. The church is run by the Dominicans.

The number of adults seeking to join the faith has tripled in the last year.

St Patrick’s Old basilica, also near the university, and St Vincent Ferrer’s parish in the Upper East Side, has also report big increases in adult conversions.

While the numbers are small in absolute terms, they seem to back recent surveys showing growing interest in religion among a segment of ‘Gen Z’ young adults.

Asked if he had ever seen anything like it before, a priest said: “I’ve seen successful ministries, but a groundswell and not just in the parish here but across the American church and beyond, I’ve never seen anything like it”.
He continued: “This church is packed at every mass I went to, with young enthusiastic people who really, really want to practice their faith. And, in addition, the discussion group that meets after mass is such an opportunity to not only practice your faith, but actually learn about it”.