(ZENIT News / Kansas, 02.15. 2026) – Students, professors, and non-teaching staff at Kansas State University are preparing to enter the Catholic Church through Baptism during Easter 2026. These are 110 catechumens who have requested Baptism, almost three times more than in previous years.
Although it seems like a small number, it is a sign of the increase in conversions to Catholicism in the United States, which is being observed in many parishes, especially in rural areas of the country.
The hunger for truth an for the infinite in many young people is leading to a growing interest in the Church among university students. «It was like trying to control the floodgates of a dam,» commented the Director of the catechism program at Kansas State University. Ridge Pinkstin, director of the university’s Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA), said that applications kept pouring in: «Just when we think we’ve recovered, ten more people sign up.» According to Catholic Vote, since the start of autum classes, the total number of participants has surpassed that of the previous year.
These are Catholics by birth who received infant Baptism but did not cultivate their faith due to estrangement from their families. Others are Christians from Protestant denominations or university students from other religions, such as Islam. And there are young people who come from non-believing backgrounds.
The Director of the OCIA himself converted at the same age as many of today’s catechumens. In his opinion, the cause lies in the discovery that the adult generation offers insufficient happiness, betrays expectations, and fails to see its impact on existence: «Many students entering OCIA reach the same conclusion: they are offered meaningless models for life. And they feel a preference for the solemn, traditional, rich in beauty and sacredness.»
The surge in conversions at the University of Kansas is not an isolated case. The trend in the country was noted in a New York Post article of November 16, 2025, with data on young people converting to the Catholic Church: «Young people are converting to Catholicism en masse.» Matthew McDonald, in the National Catholic Register, spoke of «dioceses» with Masses that «report increases of 30%, 40%, 50%, and even more than 70%.»
France is also experiencing the same phenomenon: the magazine Il Timone noted that since Easter 2024, 7,135 adults have been baptized, more than 30% compared to 2023. It emphasized that the hunger for transcendence is not diminishing, as secular society does not fill this void with mere materialism and individualism, which provokes repulsion in young people.
In France, «the increase is strongest among young people between 18 and 25 years old: 36% of those baptized are between 18 and 25 years old, a good reason to have hope against all hope. And it shows that there is no age limit for requesting Baptism. Some catechumens are over 80 years old!» highlights the news outlet Boulevard Voltaire.
Similarly, Father Rhett Williams, pastor of St. Thomas More at the University of South Carolina, said that Mass attendance at his parish has increased by 260% since 2021. This data was released before Charlie Kirk, an Evangelical Christian increasingly drawn to the Catholic faith professed by his wife, was murdered on a university campus on September 10, 2025.
There is no doubt that his death, and the revelation to many of his courageous and insightful way of promoting the Christian faith through the reasonable defense of life, has given further impetus to the movement. It is possible that his sacrifice is bearing spiritual fruit, as has always been the case in the Church with the blood of witnesses.
