This Easter season 54 percent more adults and children in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis are preparing to enter the Church through non-infant baptism or to receive other sacraments of initiation than last year — an increase Church leaders attribute to the Holy Spirit.
“There are some things happening,” said Father Kevin Finnegan, pastor of Our Lady of Grace in Edina. “People are joining the Church … which is all very exciting.”
A total of 1,736 individuals will be welcomed during the Easter season: including 605 catechumens preparing for baptism and 1,131 candidates receiving other sacraments of initiation, according to an archdiocesan survey of programs of the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA). OCIA was previously known as RCIA, the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.
This year’s increase, compared to the 2025 combined total of 1,126 catechumens and candidates, comes as Mass attendance at local parishes continues to recover from declines during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Susan Mulheron, the archdiocese’s chancellor for canonical affairs.
Last year was the first year the archdiocese collected the data specifically for the Easter season, though it has long reported annual sacramental statistics to the Holy See, she said.
Commenting on the OCIA increase in a recent Weekly Word newsletter, Archbishop Bernard Hebda said, “I am reminded this year that the Holy Spirit is always full of surprises. It’s hard to explain this season’s numbers (other than as a result of your prayers).”
Participants in OCIA formation seek to enter the Catholic Church through baptism or enter full communion with the Church by receiving other sacraments of initiation (namely holy Communion and confirmation).
The U.S. bishops changed the name of the process from “rite” to “order” in 2021 as a more accurate translation from Latin. The OCIA process includes four groups: catechumens (who are unbaptized adults); unbaptized infants; baptized non-Catholic Christians; and baptized Catholics seeking confirmation.
Non-infant baptisms are defined as individuals over the age of 7 being baptized in the Catholic Church, according to Mulheron. Non-infant reception into the Church is defined as baptized Christians over the age of 7 coming into full communion with the Catholic Church.
Archdiocesan OCIA participation is up, and 2025 aggregate Mass attendance also showed some growth over the previous year, but Mass attendance is still catching up with pre-COVID-19 attendance, Mulheron said. Attendance is recorded at the archdiocese’s 185 parishes on each Sunday in October and the weekly counts are averaged to obtain an aggregate, she said.
The rise in adult baptisms this year follows a decline in infant baptisms over at least the past 30 years, she said. Adult baptisms have remained fairly steady during that time but now baptisms of adults are showing growth while infant baptisms seem to have leveled off in recent years, Mulheron said.
In the years that followed the COVID pandemic, the number of people receiving sacraments hit plateaus, she said, which “gives you a sense for the long-term history of things.” There’s excitement when “adult baptisms go up by 100 people,” Mulheron said. It becomes “big news,” she said, “(w)hen over so many years, all these decades, the number was dropping so much.”
Even with the increase, current archdiocesan OCIA figures are lower overall than in past decades, she said.
University students
The University of St. Thomas (UST) campus ministry in St. Paul is preparing one of its largest OCIA classes this year, according to Christina Crow, UST Campus Ministry sacramental coordinator.
In addition to three catechumens, 24 candidates will receive sacraments of initiation — more than half of whom have Protestant backgrounds, she said. This compares to last year’s totals for UST Campus Ministry of seven catechumens and candidates, Crow said.
Students will enter the Church or receive sacraments of initiation on the Sunday following Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday, because the UST campus is closed on Easter, she said.
In addition to those students coming from a non-Catholic background, there are “a half-and-half of people (who) want to complete their sacraments, and for whatever reason, in their Catholic upbringing, they never received their first Communion, they never received their confirmation,” Crow said.
What is drawing many of the students, who are at all levels of study, is the Eucharist, she said.
“It could be I hear it more often because there’s more of them, but it also is very distinct for the non-Catholic baptized people, the Protestants coming into the Church, their desire for the Eucharist, I hear that time and time again,” she said.
Students wanting to enter or deepen their Catholic faith this year may have had less exposure to it growing up — Catholic or Protestant — than past generations, she said.
Their desire for the Eucharist often comes through friends inviting them to Mass or adoration of the Eucharist, studying abroad in Rome and through social media, Crow said, noting there are several adoration chapels and other opportunities for adoration on campus.
Crow said the idea that students are learning about the Catholic Church on social media “has kind of lit a fire in my heart and mind for the importance for the Church to be on top of communications with the younger generation.”
Parishes and Catholic schools
The pastor and rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, Father Joseph Johnson, said he is seeing young adults seeking more traditional and spiritual ways of living, which is leading them to the Church. This year, 66 people are in OCIA formation at the Cathedral.
The Cathedral has 12 catechumens and 43 people who will receive other sacraments of initiation, while 11 individuals from two other St. Paul parishes, St. Agnes and Maternity of Mary, are participating in the Cathedral’s formation program, he said.
Participants this year include young adults and others of all ages, Father Johnson said.
As in politics and sociology, “it’s not surprising to also find it in spirituality that younger people are not drifting,” Father Johnson said, “but intentionally choosing more traditional and spiritual ways of living their lives and are looking for meaning and purpose; the brokenness of the society around us is, I think, fueling that.”
What might be drawing some people to OCIA is the Church’s celebration last year of the Jubilee of Hope, as well as media coverage of the death of Pope Francis, the papal conclave to choose his successor and the election of Chicago native Pope Leo XIV, Father Johnson said.
The Cathedral’s sacred architecture also draws many, he added.
Providing an inviting space for young professionals, couples and families has drawn many to OCIA at Our Lady of Grace in Edina, said Father Finnegan. The parish has five adult catechumens and 31 candidates, along with a number of children and teens entering the Church and receiving sacraments.
“I think having a spirit of receiving with joy, people come into your presence or being welcoming, which we have all the time, is a very important thing,” he said. “Having a parish community that’s vibrant and is alive also is very attractive. And so, I think Our Lady of Grace is an alive community that is filled with the life of the Holy Spirit and they’ve always been that way.”
As it seeks to welcome visitors, the parish also gives couples preparing for marriage the opportunity to grow in faith with other couples, which encourages non-Catholic fiancés or spouses to participate, he said, adding that non-Catholic spouses may go through OCIA a year or two after marriage.
Our Lady of Grace’s pre-kindergarten to eighth grade school is another reason students and families enter OCIA. Along with adults, 10 children or teens are preparing for baptism and seven others to receive sacraments of initiation, he said. In some cases, children become Catholic, or their parents — or vice versa, he said.
In all, about 45 people who’ve gone through instruction to enter the Church or receive sacraments of initiation will participate in the Easter Vigil at Our Lady of Grace, Father Finnegan said.
Whether in the parish or school, Father Finnegan sees the need to continue reaching out to newcomers and even regulars who may or may not be Catholic. “How do we reach out to people? It amazes me how many people come to church on almost a weekly basis and they’re not Catholic and they do sometimes for years.”
The OCIA program might fluctuate but overall, it continues to grow, Father Finnegan said. “It’s kind of like the stock market, you’re hoping it’s growing on average year by year,” he said.
