Contact Us

Religious Leaders Say They’re Observing a
Hidden Trend Among Younger Americans

Religious affiliation has been dropping among young people for decades, but examples abound of surging interest on college campuses and in cities like D.C.

It was a Wednesday night, so Aidan Brant was where he almost always is on Wednesday nights: at Mass. Mondays and Thursdays the University of Maryland sophomore comes for two different Bible studies at the Catholic Student Center. Monday nights he’s there for sacraments class, and he attends a weekend Mass as well.

Brant’s dedication to his new faith might put even the most devout Catholic to shame. But he is not alone among his fellow college students. The Rev. Conrad Murphy, the center’s chaplain, says the number of students who have converted to Catholicism in the past year is higher than it’s been at any time in at least the past 15 years. And weekly Mass attendance this fall has been more than 500, center data shows, which is about double where it has been over the past five years.

Growing up, Brant, 19, went to a nondenominational evangelical church in Clarksburg, Maryland, where services consisted mostly of singing contemporary hymns and a quick sermon. But since he got to the University of Maryland, Brant, a former high school football player, has wanted something more intense — worship services that are mostly prayer, less pop-music-sounding singing and more intimate sacraments. Above all, he said he wants to spend as much time as possible close with God.