In the lead-up to Easter, 2026, organizations and news agencies around the country are reporting a surge in the number of people joining the Catholic Church. From religious publications like the National Catholic Register to the thoroughly secular New York Times, there is broad recognition that, in a now-continuing trend from years past, Americans are joining the Catholic Church in record numbers.
This is great news for those who are joining the Church and those who are not.
For those joining the Church, congratulations on your new beginning. Although living a Christian life is much different from learning about Christianity (analogous to, say, learning about flight versus flying the plane), you should rejoice in knowing that if you seek, sincerely and humbly, you will find.
For all those who have not joined the Church, the benefit of more Christians is less immediate for you, but nonetheless real.
Christians, taken as a whole, are much better for (not “better than”) everyone in a society than non-believers.
For example, Christians (and especially Catholics) give more time and money to charity than non-believers by a margin of 20 to 40 percentage points. In an era of ballooning deficits and shrinking government spending, we, the people, are increasingly the only ones we can count on to solve our mounting social problems.
And speaking of people, religious Americans in general, and (again) Catholics in particular, have more children than non-religious Americans. Christian women who attend religious services at least once a week have an average of 2.3 children, compared to 1.3 children born to their non-religious counterparts. 2.3 children per woman is just about the replacement level needed to keep a population steady and stable. Filling the jobs of tomorrow and caring for the elderly of today is simply not possible without more children raised to become conscientious, generous adults.
It is a simple fact that more Christians mean better communities and a better country. True, one does not need to be Christian to agree that “thou shalt not kill (or steal, or commit adultery)” is a good way to run the neighborhood. However, one needs a critical mass of people who hold those principles sacrosanct, as Christians do, to keep them operational.
Given all this, let us welcome our newest brothers and sisters in Christ with the following declaration: We rejoice in your new calling, your new vocation. We thank God for your arrival, knowing that we are all in this earthly existence together, and we, in concert with God, are the help and comfort for one another that we have been praying for.