To those on the outside, the Catholic Church is described as many things — but “teeming with life” is not usually one of them. Yet this is precisely what’s happening. Recent data out of France show that catechumens — adult converts — are up as much as 40 per cent from the previous year and the year before. France is just one example among many.
Catholic News Agency reported that France’s Catholic Church welcomed more than 10,384 adult catechumens at Easter this year — a 45 per cent increase from 2024. “Particularly notable is the 10-year trajectory: France has witnessed adult baptisms more than doubling since 2015, when only 3,900 adults received the sacrament, compared with this year’s 10,391 — representing a 160 per cent growth over the decade.”
This is not an isolated phenomenon. Several dioceses in the U.S. and Canada are also seeing the same trend. The National Catholic Register reported a “bumper crop year” for conversions to the faith. The Diocese of Cleveland, for example, saw 812 adult baptisms at Easter this year — up 50 per cent from last year’s 542, and about 75 per cent higher than in 2023 (465).
In Vancouver, a record-breaking 720 catechumens—double last year’s count—and their sponsors packed the pews at Holy Rosary Cathedral, filling both Rite of Election Masses to the brim. In addition, 120 Christians from non-Catholic churches were received into full communion with the Catholic Church this Easter.
Lots of numbers — but what does it all mean? To what can we attribute this growth?
Verse 2 from Psalm 127 comes to mind: “If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do its builders labour; in vain is your earlier rising, your going later to rest, you who toil for the bread you eat while the Lord pours his gifts on his beloved while they slumber.” And slumber we Catholics know how to do! But despite our sleepiness and apathy, the Lord has decided it is “go time.” If it isn’t the time for harvest, there will be no harvest. But when the fields are ripe, the bounty is beyond anything we’ve ever seen.
There are so many faithful workers in the vineyard who have laboured steadily in the Father’s fields for decades with barely visible fruit. And yet now, in 2025 — the Year of Jubilee, the Year of Favour — the Lord causes the growth. “So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” (1 Cor 3:7–9)
If we weren’t already certain of the mystical nature of Christ’s body, the Church, we can be now: “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (Jn 3:8) The Lord is doing something new here — and there is no algorithm or formula to predict how it will unfold.
As humans, we pride ourselves on measurable progress and having something to show for our efforts. But the reality is, we have always been children sitting on an immense inheritance, whether we realized it or not. Every now and then, God lets us glimpse his sovereignty — and his intention to fulfil each of his promises in his time, not ours.
Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, we hear God say that every creature will eventually know him. Philippians and Romans echo the same proclamation: “At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bend in the heavens and on the earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess, to the glory of God the Father, that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
For decades, many Catholics have felt “unattractive” to the world. We have believed in the mysteries despite appearing foolish, uneducated, and irrelevant. But in the end, we know: “The stone that the builders have rejected has become the cornerstone, and it is a marvel in our eyes.” (Ps 118)
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