British Catholicism’s Bright and Various Future

The theologian Jacob Phillips recently remarked, “I’ve spoken at various Catholic events which were full to the brim with recent converts in the 18-30 age range, mostly young men. Priest after priest has told me that it’s gone from [one or two] adult converts a year to numbers of 20-30 each Easter . . .” This is true in the U.K. and in some places in the U.S. However, “leakage rates” are both banal and astounding. There are around 7.2 million British adults who were baptized Catholic, but only 3.6 million of them identify as Catholics in surveys, and just 500,000 turn up for Mass on any given Sunday. But the growth is encouraging and likely represents a realization that religion offers more than secularism.