By 
Registration for the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA) has “more than doubled” on college campuses across the country as Catholic conversions continue to rise, according to recent data.
“On campuses of various sizes, all across the United States, Catholicism is on the rise,” Hallow reported in an Aug. 19 study that found that OCIA participation increased by 87.6% from the 2024-25 school year to 2025-26.
Schools with the largest number of OCIA participants include Texas A&M, Arizona State University, the University of Illinois, the University of Oklahoma, Kansas State University, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Nebraska, and Harvard University. Hallow said it obtained OCIA data from nearly 60 U.S. colleges and universities.
Texas A&M saw the largest number of OCIA participants, increasing to 204 candidates and catechumens in 2025-26 from 121 in 2024-25.
Hallow said campus conversion growth is outpacing diocesan trends, noting that university parishes and Newman Centers reported faster increases than dioceses, which saw a 38% rise in 2025‑26.
“College-age young people may be entering the Church at a faster rate than the general American population,” Hallow said. “And when they enter or return to the Church, they’re doing so with a fire that spreads across various ministries.”
Hallow’s report noted that growth is not limited to college towns alone but that “campus ministries in and around some of America’s largest cities are reporting similar increases.”
“USC [University of Southern California], located in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, saw a 76% increase in OCIA participation this past school year,” the report said. “Further north, Stanford, located in the heart of Silicon Valley between San Jose and San Francisco, tripled its number of OCIA candidates and catechumens during the 2025-26 school year.”
New York University also reported an 88% increase in OCIA participation while its daily Mass attendance tripled, the Hallow report said.
The Hallow report said adult baptisms at Stanford University were unusually high this year. Dominican Father Bart Hutcherson said in the Hallow report that the parish typically sees about four adult baptisms annually, but he baptized 16 this Easter, nearly all of them Stanford students.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
Good news for the Church is bad news for Catholic modernists.
Hopefully!
Good news for all Catholics.
I would like to see a breakdown of the statistics of men vs. women conversions on campus. There have been reports that for the first time in history, or at least in modern history, young men are more “religious” than young women. My observation is this is a combination of young men turning toward faith (good) and young women turning away from faith (bad). I admit I could be wrong, hence, my interest in what the numbers say.
Looks like it’s pretty evenly split according to this study (54% female / 46% male).
https://www.chicagocatholic.com/chicagoland/-/article/2026/07/08/survey-looks-at-why-more-people-are-entering-catholic-church
Ron: also more demographics- race, economic background, social class etc.; would be helpful to know if these students are mainly white and privileged second or third generation of college graduates or from minority first generation college educated etc. would greatly help in planning ministry etc. These students represent the future leaders-both clergy and lay in the Church in the West ( I expect different in other places) The fact that there are more male than female may account for the need for more priests. Perhaps the priesthood may be more attractive if there are less Catholic women available for marriage.
This is, indeed, amazing. Let’s hope the receiving parishes are up to the needed follow-up.
Time to support Focus, Neumann centers , the Dominicans and all others involved in campus ministry .
Whatever those of us who are critical of the Church may perceive regarding its attractiveness, the anomaly is evident. Young adults attending college are for reasons not fully understood, drawn.
The Holy Spirit is always present. Young minds encountering a plethora of ideas must perceive within our Church stability. Even in the midst of our current adversity of opinions and practice.
Despite the errors, failing in practice and egregious sins, what modern curriculum fails to provide the Christ revelation burns through, pierces the plethora with its singular veracity. Perhaps it’s our very vulnerability that offers the indisputable reality that we still stand in witness to Him.
Thank you for that link which includes the following “The survey also found that, contrary to a media narrative that more young men are showing interest in Catholicism, those coming into the church were fairly evenly split, with 54 percent of respondents being women.” So I wasn’t wrong about the media narrative, but apparently the media got it wrong. Media wrong – big surprise.
Re James Connor above (4:58 a.m.)
Yes, FOCUS, Newman, Dominicans and I don’t know who else.
These groups have been at it for some time.
BTW, no one is happier than the seasoned parishioners who experience the hopeful energy brought by the newer cohort!
I thought I’d sneak into the confessional at Domino’s Farms Catholic chapel in Ann Arbor a few weeks ago, on a Saturday morning no less. I arrived early. There were at least a dozen young people already waiting.
That’s great news, Mr. Tom. Thank you.
Why am I always so skeptical of these reports?
Perhaps because the stats show that for every one person who enters the Church, 8.4 leave? I don’t know what the recent boom of people entering that articles like this suggest does to those figures, but I rather doubt the most recent estimates would paint all that rosier a picture. There’s also the question of where the recent converts will be in future years. I know converts from 15/20 years ago who are still Catholic, as well as others who left pretty much slamming the door behind them.
It’s a growing & hopeful trend but we don’t know the final outcome. That’s in God’s hands.
I guess we can be there for support & encouragement & try not become stumbling blocks by bad example.