New York City has seen a major influx of young people converting to Catholicism this year, citing mental health problems and disillusionment as some reasons for the turn to faithNEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 21: People attend a mass and ceremony for a new mural dedicated to New York City’s immigrant communities and honoring the city’s first responders at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on September 21, 2025 in New York City. The mural, painted by artist Adam Cvijanovic, honors the 1879 Apparition at Knock, Ireland, and the faith of generations of immigrants to New York. The 25-foot-tall mural, which is the largest permanent artwork commissioned for the cathedral in its 146-year history, arrives at a time when many immigrant communities in New York and across the country are facing arrests and deportations from the Trump administration. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)Catholic churches in New York City have reported a surge in adult converts this year

New York City has seen a massive influx of people converting to Catholicism since Pope Leo was elected.

During a Sunday night mass at St. Joseph’s Church in Greenwich Village, Father Jonah Teller announced that the number of people enrolled in the parish’s Order of Christian Initiation of Adults had tripled in the past year, with roughly 130 new converts. Similarly, other dioceses across the city are also reporting similar surges in the number of adults turning to the Catholic faith.

St. Vincent Ferrer on the Upper East Side reported that their OCIA numbers had doubled since last year, rising to nearly 90 people, the New York Post reported.

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The Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral has also doubled their head count, with 100 people. According to the Post, their Sunday evening masses have become overcrowded.

“We’re out of space and exploring adding more masses,” Father Daniel Ray told The Post.

The Diocese of Brooklyn also reported a surge. In 2024, they had 538 adults enter the church — almost twice the amount as the year prior.

Pope Leo XIVCatholicism is becoming more appealing to young people(Image: AP)

According to the Post, all of the priests acknowledged that numbers will likely drop before the Easter Vigil, but they still expect them to remain high.

While Catholic churches across the country have been reporting more conversions among young people, the number of people turning to faith in the extremely secular New York City is particularly unusual.

“We’ve got a real booming thing happening here, and it’s not because of some marketing campaign,” Fr. Ray told the Post.

Many of the adult converts are searching for stability and comfort in the rapidly changing and fractured modern world. The surge seems to coincide with the election of America’s first pope, Pope Leo XIV, whose more liberal views may be appealing to the younger demographic.

Kiegan Lenihan, who is in OCIA at St. Joseph’s, told The Post, “My generation is watching things fall apart. When things all seem to be going wrong in greater society, maybe organized religion isn’t that bad.”

“Materially, we have everything at our fingertips, and it’s not reaching our hearts,” Fr. Teller explained to the Post.

Other converts who spoke to the Post cited reasons like depression, anxiety, feeling unfulfilled, personal loss, and disillusionment as reasons for their turn to faith.

Mark Carlson, a lapsed Catholic who has found his way back to the church, told the Post he realized Catholicism offered all the things people were seeking through therapy and social groups, like running clubs.

“What I hadn’t appreciated before is that these are good teachings. And they give us guardrails,” Carlson said.

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