Gen Z is the least religious generation in U.S. history. And Gen Z is going to church more than any other generation.

Both of these statements appear to be true. 

According to the Pew Research Center’s latest Religious Landscape Study, 44 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds are religiously unaffiliated—the highest percentage of any age group—compared with a national average of 29 percent. 

But studies also suggest that the 45 percent of young people who do identify as Christian today participate in the life of the church more than their elders. A report released on Nov. 4 from the Leadership Roundtable found that 18- to 29-year-old Catholics are “by far the most engaged.” These young Catholics “are more likely than any other age group to attend Mass daily, weekly, or monthly, are far more likely to engage in parish activities beyond Mass, and are more likely to go to Confession, to engage in Eucharistic Adoration, to attend social events, and more.”

This report supports new data from the Barna Group, which found that Gen Z now leads older generations in church attendance, averaging 1.9 services per month or 23 services per year. (Millennials followed closely behind with an average of 22 services per year, while boomers, the oldest of whom are now approaching 80, attend church in person just 17 times per year.)

The data also suggests that what once seemed like the irrepressible rise of the “nones”—people who identify with no religion in particular—has plateaued. 

These are just a few of the data points underlying what some, in both the Christian and secular worlds, have described as a burgeoning “religious revival” in the United States. While the absolute numbers hardly paint a picture of a new Great Awakening, it is natural to ask what lies behind the surprising relative devotion of younger Americans. 

Ironically, it is likely that the apparent contradiction between decreasing identification and increased religiosity among self-identified believers is attributable to the increasing social acceptability of not claiming Christian identity. In years past, even those with tenuous ties to the institutional church were likely to identify as Catholic or Christian because of family ties or cultural inertia. 

Young people today, many raised in only loosely affiliated households, feel far less pressure to claim that identity. So those who remain Catholic have likely made a conscious decision to be a part of a particular community. They are becoming a version of what Pope Benedict XVI predicted decades ago: a church that is smaller but where Christian identity and practice are more strongly linked.

But in addition to a smaller but more committed cohort of cradle Catholics, there is also evidence of an uptick in interest in Catholicism among younger Americans. In an ongoing election study from Harvard University, the share of Gen Z respondents who identified as Catholic rose from 15 percent in 2022 to 21 percent in 2023 (surpassing the 20 percent among millennials), a possible sign that disaffiliation among younger generations has been reversed. Some colleges have reported record numbers of baptisms and participation in the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults in 2025. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, dioceses across the country have seen a surge in young adult converts.

Of course, while followers of Jesus are called to “make disciples of all nations,” evangelization is not at heart simply a numbers game. The number of young people turning to the Catholic Church need not be overwhelming or even statistically significant to be a cause for joy. It is always a sign of hope when people want to come into full membership in the church.

How is the church called to respond in this moment?    

First, there are temptations to be avoided. In seeking to understand why young people are turning to the church, Catholics risk imposing well-worn explanations that presuppose their preferred solutions for reversing Christianity’s numerical and institutional decline. The mission of the church is not to tailor its teaching or liturgy to suit the preferences of each generation; it is to draw each person into relationship with Christ. And the best way to do that is to do what the church has been doing for 2,000 years: building communities of worship, communities of practice. 

Second, the church needs to be a community of welcome—and compassion. Karl Rahner, S.J., famously wrote: “The devout Christian of the future will either be a ‘mystic’—someone who has ‘experienced something’—or will cease to be anything at all.” Today, we might say that Christians will be those who find a community of practice or nothing at all.

The church, then, should focus on welcoming those who are just beginning to put a toe in the waters of Christianity, to invite people into religious practice instead of identification with a set of doctrinal claims. That does not mean abandoning doctrine but rather avoiding a puritanism that discourages both Christian identification and practice. 

In recent months, cities around the United States have witnessed what such communities can look like as Catholics have celebrated Mass and processed with the Eucharist in solidarity with their detained migrant siblings. Many a textbook and YouTube video might try to explain the real presence of Jesus; but there is the doctrine in practice. 

Third, we need to listen—not just to young people who are finding themselves newly committed to religious practice and church affiliation, but to those who have left or are close to leaving. The temptation to impart one’s own wisdom is not always negative, but it can also lead to more of the same when it comes to evangelization and openness. One thing we can be sure of is that no generation wants to be told it is doing the whole thing wrong. 

Finally, when thinking about evangelizing Gen Z, it is essential to recognize that a seeker’s journey to the faith may begin online. But it cannot end there. Podcasts, YouTube channels and social media personalities bring Catholic apologetics and aesthetics to millions. But, as Pope Leo XIV posted, on X no less: “The danger is that a faith discovered online is limited to individual experiences, which may be intellectually and emotionally reassuring, but never ‘embodied.’ Such experiences remain ‘disembodied,’ detached from the ‘ecclesial body.’” 

Whether we are at the beginning of a religious revival is a question for social scientists to settle. But for Christians, there is always fertile ground for one. And it begins by building communities of welcome and integrity so that those without a home may look around and say: “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

This article appears in January 2026.