“Across the 11-county diocese, we have 541 people joining the Catholic Church in West Michigan next Saturday at the Easter Vigil, and this is our highest number since 2011.”
Annalise Laumeyer, Director of Communications for the Diocese of Grand Rapids, attributes the increase to several factors.
“What we know anecdotally is that people are searching for purpose, they're searching for belonging and community, and there's this underlying feeling many of them have that there's something more to life. And the something more is God.”
Parish leaders note a younger demographic, people age 25-40, particularly Gen Z, are drawn to the modern church embracing technology with online services, podcasts and outreach.
“This has given us new avenues, new ways to evangelize. Bishop Walkowiak has put an increased and renewed emphasis on evangelization in the last two years. And so that's something that we can attribute to the increase here in West Michigan as well.”
Some converts express a connection with the church’s first American pope or a renewed interest in traditional Catholic doctrines, art and moral teachings.
“We never know in what ways that God is working and drawing people into the Catholic Church.”
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