We have all heard that famous quote echoed by Mark Twain, the provenance of which is disputed: ‘There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.’ Perhaps this is a little too strong when assessing the truth behind the so-called quiet revival in the Catholic Church and across the Christian denominations.
Recently, YouGov informed the Bible Society that its 2024 survey data, which led to the latter’s report ‘The Quiet Revival’, could no longer be regarded as a reliable source of information about the spiritual landscape in the UK. So are we seeing a large increase in the number of young adults attending church and, if so, how can we prove it?
A central term in Christianity is witness. Just before His Ascension into heaven, Jesus Christ told His disciples: ‘you will be my witnesses … to the end of the earth’ (Acts 1:8). So, whatever statistical studies may or may not show, perhaps we should ask the witnesses what they are seeing. They are the clergy and the congregations who see day by day and week by week what is happening in their churches. For several years now, Catholic communities in England and Wales, and beyond, have witnessed an increasing number of adults, particularly young adults, being baptised and received into the Church. While not quite record numbers, Easter has seen parishes and dioceses reporting their highest figures in a decade or more.
So, what is happening? Back in the 1960s, the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council observed that ‘in the face of the modern development of the world, the number constantly swells of the people who raise the most basic questions: What is man? What is this sense of sorrow, of evil, of death, which continues to exist despite so much progress? … What follows this earthly life?” (Gaudium et Spes, 10). In my conversations with several people who have come to the Church, I have heard how secular, consumerist and materialist philosophies leave them empty and searching for meaning. This has prompted many to explore the questions the Council Fathers raised. The way they have approached them differs from person to person, but they have discovered that, while these philosophies may be meaningless, life most certainly is not. In this discernment they have encountered God, the Creator, who loves them deeply and longs to have a relationship with them. They go on to discover that this search and the yearning for answers is actually the voice of Jesus Christ calling them to follow him. Although I could not have articulated it at the time, that was my own experience as a teenager, and it is what brought me to the Catholic Church.
It is interesting to reflect on how this revival moved forward when digital platforms came to increased prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns. It was these digital spaces that enabled some level of contact to continue, and helped people to remain connected, not just with loved ones but with the Church through live-streamed Masses. After the pandemic, it was a challenge to encourage some people to return to church physically, rather than stay with the passive, non-sacramental digital link-up in the comfort of their own homes. That said, I also know of some who first encountered the word of God when the Church came to them through their smartphones and computer screens.
Before I moved to London to work for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, I was a parish priest on South Tyneside in the North East of England. Although I had not heard of anything called a ‘quiet revival’, I was surprised to receive the first unsolicited email from a young adult asking about how to become a Catholic. As time moved on, this previously unknown phenomenon became more common, as did people coming to the door or stopping me on a Sunday morning after Mass. This had a great impact on my parish, as catechetical groups to prepare adults for the sacraments grew and were joined by existing parishioners eager to explore their faith more deeply. As I began to speak to brother priests about this, I learnt that they were having the same experiences.
Back to the question posed at the start of this piece: is there a quiet revival going on in the Catholic Church? My own experience is that many people, particularly young people, are asking profound questions, and that they are turning to Jesus Christ. I have also seen this becoming more widespread in recent years, certainly here in Britain. If that is a revival, how quiet or loud is it? I cannot say, but that is not really important. The Kingdom of Heaven grows slowly and quietly, but it certainly grows. Jesus reminds us of that when he tells us: ‘The Kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how.’ (Mark 4:26-27).
