CRANSTON — At Easter, the standing room only crowds observed at many churches across the diocese were proof enough for many that some news reports suggesting a revival in Christianity is underway are indeed correct.
But a more accurate benchmark that belief in the faith is surging comes instead through personal witness in the days and weeks following when an actual commitment to keeping the faith is made. It is already anticipated that high holy days in the Christian liturgical calendar will customarily bring about a large uptick in Mass attendees, including those who may not participate regularly in the weeks that follow.
According to local pastors and the diocesan Office of Faith Formation, the evidence of a surge in people seeking full Communion with the Catholic Church came earlier this year in the form of a quantifiable increase in those seeking admission to Catechumenate programs.
In Bristol this year, there were 17 people enrolled in the combined program at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Mary parishes to prepare catechumens for baptism, or to receive first Holy Communion, with all also confirmed to complete the sacraments of initiation, compared with only 11 the year before, a 55 percent increase.
Father Henry Zinno, the pastor of both parishes, told Rhode Island Catholic that during Lent, Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Mary parishes were seeing daily Mass participation of 150 people, with OLMC once again adding a 12:10 p.m. service to allow participation by the schoolchildren.
“All of our Holy Week celebrations were filled to capacity, especially the Easter Vigil, and on Easter Sunday the crowd flowed past the doors to the church,” Father Zinno said.
Since Easter, weekly Mass attendance has continued to remain very strong.
“We have six Masses on the weekends between both parishes and the increase in all of them is highly recognizable,” Father Zinno said.
He noted also that some 40-50 students from Roger Williams University have regularly been attending Mass in the two parishes.
“They come on their own, not because they are being forced by their parents. They always come out and compliment the Mass, the music and even my homilies,” he said with a chuckle.
“Something is happening not only here at OLMC and St. Mary but across the USA and the world. Praise God,” Father Zinno said.
Edward J. Trendowski, Ph.D., diocesan director of Faith Formation, said that there were 122 catechumans at the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion this year, while 214 candidates attended the rite.
Both the number of catechumans and the number of candidates was higher this year from years past, he said, noting that in 2025 there were 81 catechumans and 110 candidates.
“There seems to be a growing interest in Catholicism,” Trendowski observed.
“I have anecdotal experience of speaking to people, young adults in particular, raised in other faiths, who are interested in Catholicism.”
He believes there is a confluence of factors that is contributing to this rise in interest.
“First and foremost, I believe that the Holy Spirit continues to lead people into the Catholic Church, and for a variety of reasons, people are open to the promptings of the Spirit today,” he noted. “I don’t think this means we can now sit back, relax, and enjoy the fruits. Rather, we can recognize this moment as the New Pentecost that the popes have been talking about, a new springtime, a time of new life by the grace of God.”
As Catholics, he said, we need to be ready to share our faith with missionary zeal, led by that same Holy Spirit, inviting people to encounter Jesus Christ and the fullness of the truth within the Catholic Church.
Dylan Ingham is one of those stories of a new generation seeking to grow in the Catholic Faith.
The 25-year-old from Warwick is a 2024 graduate of Northeastern University in Boston, and like many young people coming into the Catholic Church as adults, Ingham took an intellectual approach to learning more about the faith on his own before formally a catechumen.
“Transubstantiation opened me to the Mysteries of the Mass,” he said. “It ties everything together that we need to live the faith.”
Even though he was not raised in the Catholic Faith, Ingham already knew much about the writings of English Christian Apologist G.K. Chesterton and had long contemplated how Jesus had both a Divine and a human will.
Ingham first enrolled in the RCIA program at St. Mary Church on Broadway and said his mother and father and grandparents were pleased at his decision to become a member of the Roman Catholic faith.
He became a member of the Young Adults Group at St. Paul Parish, where he met his girlfriend, a member of the faith formation team there who encouraged him to be baptized into the Catholic faith and to receive the sacraments so he could participate fully in the Masses he was already attending.
At the Easter Vigil this year, Ingham joined a group of catechumens in being baptized into the faith, before receiving the sacrament of confirmation and then first Holy Communion at the Mass.
“I was so excited to be incorporated into the Book of Catechumens,” he said, choosing Maximus for his confirmation name.
St. Paul Pastor Father Thomas Woodhouse congratulated Ingham on becoming a member of the Catholic faith.
The pastor also thanked the Sisters of the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Word, (HMSP), order, who also play a role in bringing people into the OCIA process as they “hit the streets” in the surrounding neighborhood, knocking on doors and praying with the people who are open to their visit.
“We had one person in our class this year and have had some in the past tell me that it was because of the Sisters’ visit that they were inspired to either join the Church or receive the sacraments they missed when they were growing up,” Father Woodhouse said.
At Holy Apostles Parish, Cranston, Father William Ledoux, the pastor, also reported a significant increase in attendance through the Lenten season, one which has not abated since then.
“At the Easter Vigil we baptized two adults and received three adults into the Church, while eight candidates were confirmed and received first Holy Communion,” Father Ledoux said.
“We needed to add an extra mass on Easter Sunday, which increased our Mass count for Easter, including the Easter Vigil, to 2,900. We have noticed all during the Lenten season an increase in daily Mass attendance and weekend attendance especially among young families.”
“The OCIA program and the Easter Vigil are wonderful ways to evangelize,” he said. “In order to receive their sacraments at the Easter Vigil Mass a few of our Elect and Candidates were married or had their marriages convalidated prior to the Vigil Mass and some of their relatives and friends who were present at these events or were present at the Vigil Mass, expressed an interest in joining our OCIA program in the fall.”
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