Copyright Hartford Courant
People are returning in droves to the Catholic Church in Connecticut, reversing a decades-long decline as particularly younger people search for deeper meaning and peace in a divisive world, priests in the state say. Overall, attendance in the Archdiocese of Hartford has increased 6% since 2021, with 76,428 families attending, an increase of 9,834 families, Archdiocese officials say. The number of men seeking the priesthood in the Archdiocese of Hartford has doubled from five in 2024 to 18 projected in 2026, Archdiocese officials say. Archdiocese officials note that while they have primarily seen an increase in young men attending Mass, they also are seeing more young families and others attending. Archbishop Christopher Coyne says that a shift in the church becoming more welcoming and actively connecting with people in the community are factors in people returning, as is a need for connection and community in a digital technological world. The Vatican’s Central Office of Church Statistics also cites an increase in attendance in Catholic Churches worldwide with the Catholic population increasing by 1.15% between 2022 and 2023, rising from approximately 1.39 billion to 1.4 billion, a percentage very similar to the previous biennium,” the report stated. A quest for deep flourishing happiness The Rev. Anthony Federico, director of vocations and seminarians for the Archdiocese of Hartford, said while it is hard to narrow down what is motivating more men to become priests, he said many are seeking more fulfillment in life. “I am hearing from them that when they were younger the culture made them certain promises about what it means to be happy and they lived according to what the culture told them: freedom to do whatever you want and whenever you want and it turns out that doesn’t lead to deep flourishing happiness so these guys have gone on in pursuit of another way of life,” he said. Those seeking to become priests range in age from 18 to 54, he said. Zachary Phelps said he navigated a journey for eight years through high school and college where he weighed the idea of becoming a priest. At first, he said, he did not see it as an option and feared the idea. “I think it was more that I was scared of not being like everybody else,” he said. But that feeling changed as he became more drawn to the calling for which he is in seminary today. He sees it as an integral part of his life. “Faith to me is saying yes to God even though you don’t know what is going to happen,” he said. Making a difference Observing ubiquitous graffiti and murals on the walls in Nicaragua, John Paul DelVento was immediately struck by how it depicted nuns and priests who served as a lifeline to the orphanages and schools in the region. Falling away from the Catholic Church at a young age, DelVento, 34, was working in a charity organization in Nicaragua last year when he was struck by how involved the Catholic Church was in the Central American country and how it embodied a part of Nicaraguan society. The experience moved the former school teacher to return to the Catholic Church, where he is now serving in the Catholic Service Corp program and studying to become a priest. “I feel in the Catholic Church you can make meaningful change,” he said, adding it provides an opportunity to help those who have been cheated by the system. A feeling of belonging Coyne said when he has talked to parishioners about why they have attended church, he has heard themes of feeling at home and that there is depth and substance and that they can be present in a way they don’t find in other parts of their life. “People are finding a place of peace and serenity and that is drawing them,” he said. “We are seeing more young families coming to church.” He said a group of young Catholics meets weekly to connect and forge relationships. Sister Barbara Mullen of the Archdiocese’s Delegate for Religious said people have always searched for deeper meaning and churches in general, not just the Catholic Church, are meeting that need. The Rev. Jim Sullivan, rector of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Waterbury, said he has seen an increase of 500 families in his church in the last three years. “I am seeing our young people,” he said. “They are seeing in our noisy world, our technological world and in our social media world in some ways they are asking the deeper question: what is men’s purpose in life and is this all there is? They are looking at something that touches their soul, the deepest recesses of the heart. If they can be touched, they want to come back.” Matthew Agren, 26, converted to Catholicism in 2023. He described the secular world as shallow and said he has now found peace in Catholicism. “I want to find the truth and a lot of young men are seeking the truth and the Catholic Church offers that,” he said. Courtney Gibson, 24, who is also part of the Catholic Service Corp, said that she has friends who came back to the Church after not feeling fulfilled in secular life. She heard questions from her friends who asked about life: “What is the point of this and what am I trying to accomplish here?” Prior to Covid, Catholic churches began to decline in the region, with the scandals in the Catholic Church, people moving out of the region and a societal deemphasizing of religion in people’s life, according to Sullivan. He said Waterbury was once known as the most Catholic city in America with 20 churches but over the years churches closed, dropping the number of churches in the city by half. Daniel Rober, associate professor and chair in the Department of Catholic studies at Sacred Heart University, said online male influencers are tying religion into a way of living a virtuous and masculine life, attracting younger men. An increasing number of young men are also joining parishes in France and England, representing a new norm, Archdiocese of Hartford officials say. Rober cautions that it’s too soon to classify the uptick in religiosity among young men as a trend because data is limited. “It is going to take some time and a lot more data to verify if this really represents a blip or a significant change to the secularizing trend we have been seeing in the last quarter century or so,” he said. A shift in the Church Coyne acknowledged that the Church over the years could be “pretty tough in terms of setting the rules,” such as if someone called for a baptism, questioning their qualifications and only baptizing members of the parish. That has changed over the years. “It shifted out of necessity,” he said, with a new focus on being more welcoming. “I keep saying to all our priests it doesn’t cost anything to accept the person as they are accepting to you,” he said. He said with all the challenges of the world, people are finding peace in faith. “Faith can’t fix the problems of the world but can certainly offer a way,” he said. “It can’t make evil go away but it can offer a means to an end to reduce evil and reduce the things that separate us.” Erin Roman recently became more involved in the Sweden Parish in Cheshire; it has helped her to navigate a difficult path with her sister being diagnosed with stage 4 Pancreatic cancer. It is not something that she felt she could handle alone. She said she did not connect with the nuns and priests in her parish when she was growing up. Instead, she said, she was disappointed in how they treated people. But now as she volunteers with priests and nuns, she feels a stronger connection. “I see how wonderful and amazing they could be versus my experience as a kid,” she said. A dose of hope Agren said when he was kid it was cool to dye your hair and wear dark clothing. He said now the world has swung too much to that side. “People believe that it is OK to choose whatever you want and make up whatever you want,” he said. “I think a lot of young men are looking at that and saying ‘I don’t want that. That is shallow and it is not going to last. I want to find the truth.’ Young men are rebelling by wearing a button down shirt and going to Mass.” But DelVento said the rise in the Church is more than that. “People should not always jump to this idea it is a bunch of conservative Republican young men mad at this woke liberal thing and going to the Catholic Church,” he said. “It is much more complicated than that. It is more diverse than that. It is not a bunch of young bros conservatives that find the most conservative church to go to.” Sullivan said people have also been drawn to the Church looking for hope. Coyne found that hope when his brother died at 14 from cancer and he said he felt a divine presence overcome him, leading him to later join the Church. “The Church is a hope dealer,” he said. “We deal hope and our young people, middle aged and older are looking for hope.”
