Shrewsbury Cathedral hosts two services to welcome increased number of converts

Image: Shrewsbury Diocese

Shrewsbury Cathedral yesterday held two services to welcome record numbers of adults seeking Baptism and admission into the Catholic Church this Easter.

The numbers of people asking to become Catholics in the Diocese of Shrewsbury - which includes all of Shropshire, Cheshire, the Wirral and parts of Greater Manchester - has almost doubled in the past three years.

The surge in new converts has meant that instead of the one Cathedral service to welcome those adults preparing to enter the Catholic Church, for the first time, the numbers have required two successive celebrations of the Rite of Election on the same afternoon.

A total of 171 adults from 31 parishes took part - many of them young adults. The compares with 100 last year and 82 in 2024. The increase in converts in Shrewsbury is consistent with other Catholic dioceses in the UK who are reporting similar rises.

During the Rite of Election, candidates made public commitments to entering into full communion with the Catholic Church in the final stage of their preparation. They will be fully received into the Church in their local churches during the Easter Vigil Mass.

The numbers may be statistically small, but analysts say they are significant largely because most new Catholics are young people including many men. The phenomenon was widely reported in Britain's national press last year following a 2023 study called the 'Quiet Revival' conducted jointly by the Bible Society and YouGov. The study surveyed 13,146 adults and found that Christians who go to church at least once a month make up 12 per cent of the total population, a rise from eight per cent in 2018. But for people in the 18-24 age group, churchgoing had soared to 16 per cent from just four per cent in 2018. Their determination to attend church makes this cohort the second most likely group to go to church regularly after people aged over 65.

1In a Lenten Pastoral Letter read across the Diocese at Mass over the weekend, Bishop Mark Davies said the Catholic Church in Shrewsbury must be "ready for converts".

Bishop Davies said: "As Lent begins, we see a growing number of men and women, many of them young adults, who are seeking faith and baptism. This stream of new converts is evident across our Diocese and country and indeed across the western world. It is all the more remarkable because this new generation of converts have been drawn to the Church by no special initiative on our part, rather by the constancy of faith, the reverence of worship and the authentic witness they have found. They may be statistically small in number compared with the overall decline of Christianity in our land, yet their search for Christ and His Church represents a moment of grace.

"As Shrewsbury Diocese began its mission some 175 years ago, Saint John Henry Newman spoke of 'a Church ready for converts'. Seeing so many today, often coming from no religious background to find the faith of the Church, I recalled these words of Cardinal Newman. We must now be ready to support new converts who are seeking Christ and His Church amid all the confusions of our time. "It should not surprise us that, through the shadows of our time, many are coming in search of Christ, the truth of His teaching and all the means of grace He has entrusted to His Church in the Sacraments, and supremely in His Eucharist."

The pastoral letter of Bishop Davies, read at all Masses on the First Sunday of Lent, follows in full.

A Church Ready for Converts

My dear brothers and sisters,

As Lent begins, we see a growing number of men and women, many of them young adults, who are seeking faith and baptism. This stream of new converts is evident across our Diocese and country and indeed across the western world. It is all the more remarkable because this new generation of converts have been drawn to the Church by no special initiative on our part, rather by the constancy of faith, the reverence of worship and the authentic witness they have found. They may be statistically small in number compared with the overall decline of Christianity in our land, yet their search for Christ and His Church represents a moment of grace.

As Shrewsbury Diocese began its mission some 175 years ago, Saint John Henry Newman spoke of "a Church ready for converts".

Seeing so many today, often coming from no religious background to find the faith of the Church, I recalled these words of Cardinal Newman. We must now be ready to support new converts who are seeking Christ and His Church amid all the confusions of our time.

At the beginning of Lent, the Scriptures remind us of the deceptions which have marked humanity's struggle from the very dawn of history and of Christ's victory over Satan in the wilderness. It is with Christ that we are to renounce the evil one who seeks to pervert all that is good and true. It should not surprise us that, through the shadows of our time, many are coming in search of Christ, the truth of His teaching and all the means of grace He has entrusted to His Church in the Sacraments, and supremely in His Eucharist.

The journey of these new converts brings us back to the original purpose of Lent as the time when adults prepared for Baptism. The Church quickly recognised this time was needed by all the baptised as part of their continuing conversion.

It is for this reason that we now keep these 40 Lenten days devoted to greater prayer, self-denial and generosity as we each prepare to renew at Easter the promises of our Baptism, confess our sins and receive the Holy Eucharist with ever renewed faith and love. It is by striving to live our own conversion that we can best support a new generation of converts. For Lent calls us to recognise that every member of the Church must always be a convert.

On my visits to parishes, I often remind you of the many thousands of souls in every place who depend so much on your prayer and faithfulness. Today, with a prayer card distributed at Mass, I invite you to pray for all those in your lives and for the many adults who are seeking the faith and the new life of Baptism.

May we truly be a Church of converts, that is always "ready for converts"

United in this prayer, and as a convert with you,

+ Mark

Bishop of Shrewsbury

LINK

Diocese of Shrewsbury: www.dioceseofshrewsbury.org