Stanford sees Catholic revival as Gen Z students increasingly convert to the faith

According to a report by the California Post, Fr. Bart Hutcherson, pastor of the Catholic Community at Stanford, said that 46 adults entered the church at Easter this year, up from just 14 the previous year. The increase is surprising, given that the university has averaged just four adult baptisms each year for the last three decades.

“There is, not just at Stanford, a sense of recovery of tradition and what beauty teaches us about God,” Hutcherson, who was appointed pastor about three years ago, told the outlet. “It’s very, very exciting.”

Students appear to be increasingly drawn to the traditional style of worship offered by Catholicism. Some 600 students attended a recent Saturday afternoon Mass of the Holy Spirit, hundreds more than would have been expected just a few years ago.

Hutcherson said students are particularly attracted to Catholicism for intellectual reasons and have educated themselves on the history of the church and tradition. One sixth-year electrical engineering PhD student, Obi Nnorom, converted to Catholicism after growing up Protestant. Nnorom said that reading the writings of the Church Fathers and Catholic philosophers played a role in his decision.

“That, ultimately, definitely had a major impact on my conversion,” Nnorom said. “The intellectual tradition of Catholicism shocked me beyond belief.”

“It was humbling to see how much work had been done for 2,000 years. And to me, it made so much sense that our Lord had left us a church,” he added.

The trend at Stanford is indicative of a broader increase in Catholic conversions at college campuses across the US. Data from Hallow found that nearly 60 colleges and universities reported an average increase of 115 percent in the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA) between the 2024-25 and 2025-26 academic years.