Put Out into the Deep
April 29 2025
In this week’s newsletter we share some good news about a quiet revival happening around the world.
Baptisms! Alleluia!
Christ is risen—and it’s still Easter. We’ll be in the Easter season all the way ’til Pentecost, in June.
In churches across the world, new Catholics were welcomed at the Easter Vigil, through Baptism, Confirmation, and First Communion. Keith's parish witnessed 80+ initiated at this year's Vigil, 40+ of which were adult baptisms.
Look at the United Kingdom for an example! The story of Christian faith in the UK seemed like a story of slow, inevitable decline. English churches seemed like Shakespeare’s “bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang”: places where faith lived once, but no longer.
But a new survey finds a “Quiet Revival”: a striking rise in church attendance among young British people. Since 2018, the number of people who attend church at least monthly in the UK has grown by more than 50%, and those who go to church are more likely to report that they read the Bible outside of church.
Young people, those age 18 – 24, have had an especially strong rise in Christian practice. Young people are the group most likely to pray, most likely to engage in “spiritual practices”—and most interested in learning more about the Bible.
This new openness and interest leads to new questions. The report notes that young people are especially likely to say they find learning about the Bible “challenging,” and struggle to reconcile Scripture with the surrounding culture. “There is clear need for more discipleship around Scripture,” the report says.
Jesus attracts attention—and questions. Part of BCF’s mission is to help all those responsible for teaching the Catholic faith answer the questions of inquirers. Again and again, we hear,
“Our young people are asking me about the Church’s relationship to LGBT+ people—and I don’t know what to tell them!”
In this joyous Easter season, let’s pray for all those celebrating their first few weeks as Catholics. Let’s pray for those who guide them in the Faith. And let’s pray for all those who are newly-interested, newly-open, newly-inquiring—but who have questions. May the answers they receive lead them into the Light.
Your Prayers and Ours
Please continue to pray, through the intercession of Pope Francis, that our closeness, tenderness, and compassion bring the healing presence of Christ to a world in need.
Eve & Keith