Several campus ministeries in the U.S. are witnessing a signifciant rise in baptisms and confirmations among students. Reflecting a deepening desire among young adults for certainity, stability and faith amid today’s troublesome cultural landscape.
Ryan Ayala, a former seminarian and campus minister who has spent the past three years leading evangelization at Arizona State University’s Newman Center, oversees efforts that have helped the center see its largest ever group of students enter the Catholic Church.
Ayala shared that this year marked a record number of students received into the Catholic Church in Arizona State University.
At Arizona State University, the campus ministry readies students for baptism, confirmation, and full communion each year with a fall vigil held in partnership with Christ the King Parish.
On November 23, 8 catechumans were baptizied, 26 were made affirmations of faith and a significant number of Catholics received confirmation at a ceremony took place on the feast of Christ the King.
Missionaries from the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), who lead weekly Bible studies and walk with students as their faith deepens, are helping fuel the ministry’s growth. Ayala, who has completed FOCUS formation himself, oversees these missionaries. At the Newman Center, students participate in an intensified nine-week OCIA process — shorter than the typical year-long program — with weekly sessions complemented by FOCUS Bible study groups.
Ayala also noted that the GenZ are being influenced by Catholic media. The main strategy, he explains is to have an urgency to respond to the quieries of students and give them the clarity about how to become Catholic.
A similar energy is being felt at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Rita Zyber, coordinator of the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults at St. Mary Student Parish, says about 50 students are now preparing to enter the Catholic Church — up from 30 received last Easter and roughly 20 in 2024.
With daily liturgies and seven weekend Masses, the parish frequently fills to capacity, prompting the addition of an extra Mass this year. “They are packed,” Zyber said, noting that many young people are seeking structure, stability, and a deeper connection with God amid the chaos of the world.
Father Ryan Kaup, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Church and the Newman Center at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, described the current moment as “a golden age of campus ministry.”