Catholic conversions on US campuses rise 87 percent, Hallow report says

Participation in the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA) has more than doubled on American college campuses, rising 87.6 percent between the 2024-25 and 2025-26 academic years, according to a new report from Hallow, a Catholic prayer app.

Texas A&M University led the growth, with a 69 percent increase in the number of adults joining the Church, from 121 in 2024-25 to 204 in 2025-26. That makes it the institution with the largest number of OCIA participants. Hallow collected data from about 60 higher education institutions in the United States.

Other universities also saw participation in OCIA rise, among them Arizona State University, the University of Illinois, the University of Oklahoma, Kansas State University, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Nebraska and Harvard University.

Harvard reports record number of converts

Last spring, 85 people entered the Catholic Church at St. Paul's church, across from Harvard University, 45 of them students or staff members. So far, 65 people have registered interest in becoming Catholic, keeping pace with the increase, said the university chaplain, Father Nathaniel Sanders.

Sanders said the previous year brought "the largest class of converts in the history of the university." Sunday Mass attendance has grown by 10 percent to 20 percent in recent years, with an average of 300 students now attending Mass at St. Paul's, compared with about 200 a few years ago.

Sanders attributed the rise in conversions to "a broader phenomenon affecting young people," saying "there is nothing in particular about Harvard" that explains the growth. He credited "the action of the Holy Spirit" and cultural factors that lead students to explore their faith further. Many conversions come through Bible study groups, he said, with about 30 groups active on campus, supported by FOCUS missionaries.

Sanders identified two main groups among the new converts: young people who were not raised in the faith but come from culturally Catholic homes, and former evangelical Protestants who begin looking into Catholicism. "Fewer children are being baptized today, so those who have never been educated in the faith, who were raised in a culturally Catholic environment, are showing interest in the faith," he said.

John Phillips, a former president of the Harvard Catholic Center, said he nearly turned down his admission to the university because he feared he would not be able to grow in his faith in such a secular environment. When he arrived on campus, he found a community committed to the Catholic faith. Adaolisa Mba, the center's current formation president, said it is "amazing to be part of a Catholic community with many young people her age, which motivates them to draw closer to God."

Family testimonies about faith at Harvard

In a recent appearance on the program "The Great American Road Trip," Sanders said the family of US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy visited Boston while his daughter Paloma was weighing college options, including Harvard. Paloma's parents arrived with concerns about how the university might affect the Christian upbringing they had given her.

Her mother, Rachel Campos Duffy, spoke about the importance of faith in raising her children, saying: "My job is not to get you into Harvard, but to get you to heaven." After meeting Sanders, Paloma's father said he worried about the effect the university could have on his children's faith. Sanders replied that the success of young Catholics at Harvard depends on their preparation and the values they bring with them, and said "there is nothing nefarious at play."

Sanders said the challenge is not to keep a young Catholic from facing questions about the faith but to make sure the student has "a well-grounded faith that allows them to thrive in a demanding academic environment." He added: "If they have enough confidence in their faith not to have an existential crisis the first time they are challenged in class, and they have the necessary social skills, they can thrive at Harvard."

Stanford and other universities set records

Stanford University, in the heart of Silicon Valley, tripled its number of OCIA candidates and catechumens in the 2025-26 academic year. Adult baptisms there reached exceptionally high numbers. Dominican Father Bart Hutcherson, who usually performs about four adult baptisms a year, said he baptized 16 people at Easter this year, most of them Stanford students.

The University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, recorded a 76 percent increase in OCIA participation over the past academic year. New York University saw an 88 percent increase, along with a tripling of daily Mass attendance.

Outpacing diocesan trends

Growth in conversions on campuses is outpacing what dioceses are seeing. Campus parishes and Newman Centers reported faster increases than dioceses as a whole, which recorded a 38 percent rise in 2025-26.

The Hallow report says college students are entering the Church at a faster rate than the American population as a whole. "When they enter or return to the Church, they do so with a fervor that extends across various ministries," Hallow says. The growth is not confined to college towns, as student ministries in and around several major American cities have reported similar increases.