The Easter edition of the <em>Spectator</em> took a refreshingly upbeat stance on the State of Christendom, with Justin Brierley <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a-christian-revival-is-under-way-in-britain/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">setting out his argument</mark></a> that we are seeing a Christian revival in England.
Drawing on the <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/tom-holland-recalls-inexplicable-healing-from-cancer-after-praying-to-our-lady/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">much-reported religious experience</mark></a> of historian Tom Holland, he said that he could “see signs that he [God] is moving in the minds and hearts of secular intellectuals". Brierley ended his piece on an optimistic note, quoting G.K. Chesterton's observation that “Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave".
Perhaps the most unexpected intellectual to have recently expressed positive rumblings on the value of Christianity to society was none other than the scientist Richard Dawkins, going so far as to even <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COHgEFUFWyg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">describe himself on <em>LBC</em></mark></a> as a "cultural Christian". Perhaps Brierley is onto something?
On Easter morning, it was a great pleasure to open <em>X</em> (formerly <em>Twitter</em>) to see ecstatic posts from newly baptised Catholics expressing their joy at having been received into the Church at the Easter Vigil. Moving images of <a href="https://twitter.com/colmflynnire/status/1774407478425379257" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Tammy Peterson</mark></a>, wife of the famous and controversial public intellectual Dr. Jordan Peterson, being received at Holy Rosary Church in Toronto, swept across Catholic corners of the internet.
Tammy Peterson was joined by countless others across the world who "took the plunge" at the Easter Vigil. This happens every year, but did we see a higher rate in 2024? Anecdotal evidence suggests so.
It was reported that one US parish in Auburn, Alabama, saw an astonishing 82 people being received into the Church. Another person in Florida claimed they had 50 baptisms and 30 confirmations at their Easter Vigil this year.
One <em>X</em> user wrote that their Easter Vigil lasted half an hour longer than previous years due to the length of time needed to baptise so many Catechumens.
It’s too early to get the official figures from most dioceses to back up such anecdotal evidence, but <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/adult-baptisms-in-france-rise-for-fourth-year-in-succession-show-accelerating-growth/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">numbers coming out of France</mark></a> seem to confirm this trend. It is reported that 7,135 adults were baptised in French Catholic Churches this Easter – double the number from 20 years ago – with just over a third of them being aged 18-25 years old. For a country that has just <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/breaking-news-france-becomes-first-country-in-world-to-make-abortion-a-constitutional-right/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">enshrined abortion into its constitution</mark></a>, this is definitely a move in the right direction.
But it wasn’t just reports of baptisms that filled social media this Easter; stories of packed parishes filled to the rafters for the entirety of the Triduum were commonplace. Online accounts of "standing room only" and overflowing overflow-areas seemed to be the norm.
Some said it was the highest Easter Mass attendance they had seen in 25 years. <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/westminster-cathedral-forced-to-turn-people-away-due-to-surge-of-attendees-for-easter-triduum/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Westminster Cathedral was so full on Good Friday</mark></a> that it was reported security personnel had to turn people away. These stories spanned everywhere from Ireland to Indonesia.
In a discussion speculating as to the reasons why so many flocked to church this year in seemingly record numbers, one person from Argentina commented that amidst growing confusion, “there is a huge hunger for the faith” across the world. Another person said that “Mass has become an oasis of sanity and reason in a sea of secular madness”.
Or perhaps as one commentator described, just as "<a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/critics-of-the-pope-as-a-meek-white-flag-waving-peacenik-miss-how-victory-can-lie-in-unexpected-places/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">in war, foxholes are always filled with believers</mark></a>", now "people are waking up to the spiritual war in which we are currently living".
Justin Brierley reminds us that although the statistics still point to an overall picture of continued decline in religiosity, there are some spiritual canaries in the coal mine of modernity that buck this trend – such as the growing church attendance amongst young people in Finland.
The world that the so-called New Atheists occupied is beginning to crumble away. The certainties of a unified Western liberal order are no more. Many of the things once taken for granted – a Christian culture, freedom of speech, an understanding of what it means to be male or female, are disintegrating before our eyes. This void is increasingly being filled by the ideologies of those who shout the loudest – whether that be militant Islam or LGBTQ+ dogmatism.
Our need for religion is hard-wired into us. It’s no coincidence that many modern movements have their own quasi-religious calendar of designated "Months" and "Days".
What we may be seeing – and which appeared highlighted this Easter – is that people are waking up to the dramatic (if not draconian) changes in the social, cultural and spiritual landscapes; while seeking to go deeper, being drawn to the good, the true and the beautiful. And we should be ready to embrace them with open arms.
I’ve read people sneering at Dawkins recent comments on Christianity, arguing that he helped create this mess. That’s the wrong response. It’s never too late for people to realise the error of their ways and repent.
As Western civilisation fractures, the <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/critics-of-the-pope-as-a-meek-white-flag-waving-peacenik-miss-how-victory-can-lie-in-unexpected-places/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Church should be there as a field hospital</mark></a>, catching the fallen and restoring them for a great renewal. What better time to start, than Eastertide?
<em>Photo: A performance of 'The Passion of Jesus' in front of crowds in Trafalgar Square on Good Friday, London, England, 19 April 2019. (Photo by Peter Summers/Getty Images.)</em>
