Newark, N.J. – The Archdiocese of Newark will experience a record-breaking number of people becoming Catholic or completing their initiation into the Church during the 2026 Easter season, continuing a rapid growth trend that began following the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to newly released statistics from the archdiocesan Worship Office, over 1,700 people will be added to the Archdiocese this Easter. This includes catechumens—individuals who have never been baptized—and candidates, baptized Christians from a non-Catholic Church and baptized Catholics missing at least one required sacrament.

Here is a more detailed look at the increased numbers:

• A total of 1,701 individuals will be added to the Church, representing a 30% increase since 2025, a 48% increase since 2024 and a 72% increase since 2023.

• 645 catechumens will celebrate the sacraments of baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist during the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday, April 4, marking a 14% rise since 2025, a 41% rise since 2024 and a 75% rise since 2023.

• 1,056 candidates will celebrate their needed sacraments at some point during the Easter season, which is a 43% increase since 2025, a 53% increase since 2024 and a 70% increase since 2023.

“God always calls, but now a lot of people are answering,” said Father Armand Mantia, the Archdiocese’s director of the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA), the Catholic adult initiation process. “Why are people answering in these numbers? In my opinion, people are desperate to believe in something during these very uncertain times. The Catholic Church offers them stability, hope for the future and a defined core of beliefs that they can’t find elsewhere.”

The Archdiocese of Newark is not the only diocese to experience an increase in conversions. Multiple dioceses worldwide have shared that they have gained unprecedented or near-record numbers of fully initiated Catholics in the years following COVID-19. This includes the Archdiocese of Westminster, England, which this year reported its highest number of converts since 2011 and a 60% increase from 2025 to 2026. The Archdiocese of Paris, France, similarly announced that it will welcome its largest-ever group of converts to the Church this Easter (788), while the Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio, went from having 465 converts in 2023 to 1,029 converts three years later.

This sharp rise in conversions around the world has led many Catholic leaders to proclaim that the Church is experiencing a global conversion boom, with Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney calling it a “second spring” of faith last year.

“It shows God is working,” Father Mantia said. “People are realizing that the Catholic Church contains the fullness of the truth, the fullness of God’s message. It is the Church that was founded by Jesus Christ that has existed in a substantially unbroken form for over 2,000 years.”

OCIA

To join or continue their initiation into the Catholic Church, all catechumens and candidates must participate in the OCIA process, whose steps and length vary based on what sacraments and religious exposure a person has already experienced. Catechumens—who have celebrated no sacraments—must complete the full process, which is divided into four stages.

In stage one, the pre-catechumenate, potential converts get to know the Church and its people to determine whether Catholicism is right for them. Once they are ready to commit—and their parish grants approval—the individuals participate in the Rite for Entrance Into the Catechumenate to begin stage two, the catechumenate.

During the catechumenate, individuals spend at least one full calendar year receiving formal instruction on Church teachings in addition to participating in parish life and charity work. Once that is completed, they will engage in stage three throughout Lent, which entails experiencing Purification and Enlightenment through intensive prayer and spiritual meditation. This period starts with the Rite of Calling Candidates to Continuing Conversion (for candidates) and the Rite of Election (for catechumens, who become known as the Elect thereafter), liturgies meant to celebrate the persons’ pending acceptance into the Church. It ends when the Elect celebrate the sacraments of initiation at the Easter Vigil and candidates complete their initiation on another Sunday of the Easter season.

Upon officially joining the Church, the fully initiated Catholics will enter the final stage of OCIA, mystagogia. This period begins with the converts learning how to practically integrate into the Church during the weeks leading up to Pentecost. Beyond that, mystagogia never ends—it is the spiritual journey all Catholics lead for the rest of their lives.

In the Archdiocese

The Archdiocese of Newark’s candidates most recently participated in the Rite of Calling Candidates to Continuing Conversion, which was celebrated by Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., Archbishop of Newark, across two services on Feb. 21 at Newark’s Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart. During both services, the candidates’ sponsors affirmed their candidates are worthy of the sacraments, and Cardinal Tobin formally recognized their desire to complete their initiation. The cardinal also delivered a homily reflecting on why people feel compelled to become Catholic.

“Beneath the surface of our lives, we hunger for God,” Cardinal Tobin said. “We come to realize, as Pope Benedict XVI said: ‘Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.’”

Due to inclement weather, the Rite of Election scheduled at the Cathedral Basilica the next day was canceled. Instead, archdiocesan parishes hosted their own Rites of Election liturgies for catechumens, which followed a similar format to the Rite of Calling Candidates to Continuing Conversion. The main difference was that the catechumens also signed their names in the Book of the Elect, which symbolizes their names being written into God’s Book of Life in Heaven.

To learn more about the OCIA process in the Archdiocese of Newark, visit www.rcan.org/ocia/.

About the Archdiocese of Newark
The Archdiocese of Newark serves 1.3 million Catholics across northern New Jersey’s Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union counties. Led by Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., the sixth archbishop of Newark, the Archdiocese includes 211 parishes, 64 Catholic schools, the Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology, St. Andrew’s Hall College Seminary, Redemptoris Mater Seminary and numerous missions and ministries dedicated to faith, education and social service. For more information, visit www.rcan.org.

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