Increase in young converts/reverts?

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Rivera

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Hi all,
This may be a very obvious question, but do you think the church is seeing an increase in young converts/reverts to the faith? I’ve noticed a lot of young adults in my parish being baptized and others coming back the faith with a strong conviction. My husband and I came back to the faith over the past few years (thank you CA & EWTN), and now I am seeing a lot of people like us. Is this a recent development or am I just noticing it more now?

Just as an aside, please pray that the guys that produce Veggie Tales will convert so they can start doing wonderful CATHOLIC shows for the kids 😉

n
 
The Church certainly seems to be getting younger, and this is in no small part due to John Paul II and his amazing ability to inspire the youth of today.

Also, many new movements in the Church are attracting young people and these movements are experiencing an increase in vocations.

The fruits of Catholic home schooling are becoming evident as these home schooled children get older and become Catholic adults.

Pro-life Catholic families tend to have more children, and they tend to grow up to be more committed Catholics.

Finally, due to Catholic radio, the Internet, and a growing number of apostolates, Catholics, young and old, have better access to Catholic information.

So I agree with you. I am sure there are many more reasons…let’s see if others can think of some and add to my list!

God Bless!
 
We are seeing it over at phatmass.com. We also have a large number of seminarians and young religious that post there as well.
 
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Rivera:
Hi all,
This may be a very obvious question, but do you think the church is seeing an increase in young converts/reverts to the faith? I’ve noticed a lot of young adults in my parish being baptized and others coming back the faith with a strong conviction. My husband and I came back to the faith over the past few years (thank you CA & EWTN), and now I am seeing a lot of people like us. Is this a recent development or am I just noticing it more now?

Just as an aside, please pray that the guys that produce Veggie Tales will convert so they can start doing wonderful CATHOLIC shows for the kids 😉

n
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Not many young people in my parish. Mostly kids.
 
When I converted in '99 so did a 17 year old who was a Senior in High School. She really didn’t even know any Catholics but read about the Church and joined RCIA.
She is now in her second year with The Sisters of Charity! When God calls 'em He really calls 'em!

Stephanie
 
I kind of wonder if the Internet plays a part in this. When I began re-investigating the Church after some years away, there were plenty of places to get information online. I knew I had to be careful, as there is also a lot of incorrect information out there. But, I found that that the small-“o” orthodox Catholic were the ones who were always willing and able to refer me to a specific Church document. When I wouldI check the documents out (usually at vatican.va), they really said what I had been told that they had said.

On the other hand, dissident Catholic almost never referred me to anything specific and when they did, I would find that they had really twisted what the documents seemed to be saying. For the most part, though, they would just brush off arguments from orthodox Catholic and respond with, “Well, it seems to me …” or “Well, I feel …” (Then there’s the tried-and-true technique of throwing Galileo, the Crusades, the Inquisition, or, more recently, the sex-abuse scandals into any discussion, if only to throw it off track.)

But most people, if they are really, honestly searching for truth, will see past that kind of thing, I think.

I would also listen to EWTN radio online at work, including Catholic Answers Live. EWTN introduced me to people who really were trying to live the Catholic faith – not a watered-down version of it. I had convinced myself that such people didn’t exist.

This played a big part in leading me back, as did books like “What Catholic Really Believe” by some guy named Karl Keating 😉 and another book called “Welcome Home!: Stories of Fallen-Away Catholics Who Came Back” edited by Victor R. Claveau that were most helpful, and a bunch of other books I ordered online. I read most of Chesteron’s “Heretics” online as well.

Hopefully, this new forum will help introduce others to the wealth of truth the Church holds.
 
The Passion of the Christ! I’m a “born-again” Catholic because of my experience in seeing this movie and I’m sure a lot of young people are too.

Con
 
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consuela:
The Passion of the Christ! I’m a “born-again” Catholic because of my experience in seeing this movie and I’m sure a lot of young people are too.

Con
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You are born again when you were being baptized and no more

… but I get your gist :)… carry on.
 
Yeah, I know what u mean too but I like to call myself that because I never understood the Catholic Church and when I was 18 , decided that it was not for me (I only had to go to Church while I was living under my parents’ roof). 25 years later I’m back and I’m like a sponge absorbing all I can about everything Catholic! I’m sometimes even a little too enthusiastic for my devout mother!
Con
 
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bquinnan:
I would also listen to EWTN radio online at work, including Catholic Answers Live. EWTN introduced me to people who really were trying to live the Catholic faith – not a watered-down version of it. I had convinced myself that such people didn’t exist.
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Ditto that and AMEN. I didn’t know that there were people who really lived and understood the faith until I found CA and EWTN. I absolutely love being Catholic now. I feel like we may be a generation that is craving orthodoxy (little o-like you said). I pray more find it in our wonderful church.
n
 
Pro-life Catholic families tend to have more children, and they tend to grow up to be more committed Catholics.
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This comment brought something to mind. It’s amazing how God works miracles, and has the special ability to extract good out of humanity’s evil acts. Luke-warm Catholics, in my experience, tend to oppose the Church’s teaching on birth control and engage in it regardless of what the Bible or the Church teaches. But although I completely oppose birth control in all forms, at least this will lessen the influence of these luke-warm Catholics.

Those Catholics who faithfully abstain from artificial birth control will have more children, and that means more committed Catholics as a previous poster pointed out.
 
Hey guys, I am 19 years old and I am full speed ahead on my journey home to Rome. I was a very devout protestant for 10 years. I only found the truth after I felt the Holy Spirit leading me to research and pray about Catholicism. I am so glad that I did! I am so very excited about becoming a member of the true Church of Jesus Christ! I also noticed that most of the people I hang out with at my campus Catholic group are converts from protestantism! I think in some ways it is true that there are many young people interested in finding truth but there are also that want to follow the real American religion which is selfishness. Pray for all the lost souls out there and I pray that they will have such an experience as I did and am having every day.
 
We truly are experiencing a new springtime like our Pope has stated. It is an exciting time in the Church an I am just stoked!
 
I am trying to talk a young man, about 25 years old, into coming back to the Catholic Church. But he is being so hard headed. I don’t push to hard for fear of him tuning out. He is going to a non-denominational church and keeps trying to get me to go.

It is almost as if he is too immature in his idea of faith for me to teach. To him, it is about the music and how he feels when he leaves church. He left the Catholic Church because he didn’t get anything out of it and a priest made his mother angry. I don’t know what to do. I’ve talked about the Eucharist to him, but he says his church does communion to and it is the same thing (I don’t think he knows what he is talking about here, which is anohter problem—I don’t know if He is being totally honest with himself or me). I’ve tried to tell him that worship is not about how one feels. I’ve given him a “One Church” lecture via email. I have refuted his “I don’t know about purgatory” with a scott hahn tape. Then he tells me that he doesn’t see a difference btw his church and mine, except for the idea of saints. I did my best to explain this position, then gave him a John Martignoni tape. Still no progress. It is almost as if something has to be “cool” for him to accept it. I understand this, because it used to be me. But, I brought myself home (not revert, just wasn’t going to church). He doesn’t like to read. Any advice.

Chad
 
I work a lot with the hispanic community and stats state that more than half of them are under 25
 
Richard Lamb:
I work a lot with the hispanic community and stats state that more than half of them are under 25
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I actually just had a discussion with some people after mass this past Sunday on the hispanic segment of the Church, has it been your experience that that population is not as Catholic as it used to be? Some thought that that may be the case.
 
I am an 18 yr. old convert to Catholicism, at the time I was 17. My girlfriend is a revert as well. I have noticed a good deal of converts near my age, which is encouraging when I meet one since sometimes I feel lost at sea.
 
Chris in Mich:
I actually just had a discussion with some people after mass this past Sunday on the hispanic segment of the Church, has it been your experience that that population is not as Catholic as it used to be? Some thought that that may be the case.
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Evangelicals are actively prosthelizing young hispanic catholics yes we are loosing members as these communites are leading people away from the eucharist and to praise music warehouses.
 
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