A record-high number of people are expected to convert to Catholicism during the Easter season this year, according to the Archdiocese of Newark. New data released by the archdiocesan Worship Office shows that more than 1,700 people will be added to the Archdiocese of Newark this Easter, including those who have never been baptized and baptized Christians from non-Catholic churches. There will also be baptized Catholics completing their initiation into the church. This represents a 30% increase since last year and a 72% increase since 2023. The archdiocese says the surge is part of a global trend that has been increasing since the COVID-19 pandemic. “God always calls, but now a lot of people are answering,” said Father Armand Mantia, the archdiocese’s director of the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, the Catholic adult initiation process. “Why are people answering in these numbers? In my opinion, people are desperate to believe in something during these very uncertain times. The Catholic Church offers them stability, hope for the future and a defined core of beliefs that they can’t find elsewhere.” The Archdiocese of Newark is not the only diocese to see a boom in conversions to Catholicism. Archdioceses worldwide are seeing more people join the Catholic Church. In Westminster, England, for example, the archdiocese saw a 60% increase from 2025 to 2026. “It shows God is working,” Father Mantia said. “People are realizing that the Catholic Church contains the fullness of the truth, the fullness of God’s message. It is the Church that was founded by Jesus Christ that has existed in a substantially unbroken form for over 2,000 years.” To join or continue their initiation into the Catholic Church, all catechumens and candidates must participate in the OCIA process, which involves multiple steps and sacraments. To learn more about the OCIA process in the Archdiocese of Newark, visit www.rcan.org/ocia/.