Catholicism Surging on College Campuses

Articles | August 25, 2026 | by Catholics for Catholics

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According to a report from Fox News, Catholic college campus ministries are reporting surges in interest from students looking into the faith.

Based on the information provided by almost sixty of these college campus ministries to Hallow, the Catholic prayer app, participation in classes for converting to the faith (OCIA) jumped 115% from last year.

Arizona State University, Illinois State University, and the University of Oklahoma reported the highest number of class enrollments, with more than 125 class participants from each of those campuses. 

The doubling in OCIA class enrollment is coupled complemented by a reported increase in students attending retreats and receiving the sacraments, like Confession, and attending Eucharistic Adoration.

“At St. Thomas More on the campus of the University of South Carolina, candidates and catechumens nearly doubled last year, but Katie Washington, Director of Development at St. Thomas, is seeing the wave of faith ripple across all of its ministries,” the report from Hallow reads. “Daily Mass attendance rose from an average of 45 to 80 during the same time period and Sunday Mass attendance is also up.”

Catholicism is surging across college campuses.

America's youth are learning that the Church and Christ's teaching is more real and true than anything they will find on earth. pic.twitter.com/NnWYl6cIlf

— Catholics for Catholics 🇺🇲 (@CforCatholics) August 25, 2026

But the surge in OCIA enrollment isn’t limited to just those campuses. Deacon Paul Pesqueira at the USC Caruso Catholic Center told Hallow that he was hoping for 26 students in his OCIA class last year and ended up with 44. Pesqueira said he didn’t even advertise the OCIA program, and that the growth was only through word of mouth.

Texas A&M reported 204 OCIA class enrollments in the 2025-2026 school year; Kansas State, 99; Harvard University, 90; Notre Dame, 76; Florida State, 50. Many other campuses reported strong, increasing numbers as well.

A recent Pew research survey found that the number of adult converts to Catholicism is actually the same size – or larger – than the population of several Protestant denominations in the United States, including Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Reformed Christians.