Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 3, 2025 /
15:20 pm
A revival of the Catholic faith is spreading across Australia and beyond, according to Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher.
The Archdiocese of Sydney welcomed a record 384 catechumens and candidates in March, marking a 30% increase from the previous year. In addition, the archdiocese has ordained a bishop, along with two deacons and a priest, just in the past month.
Following a record number of conversions this past Easter, Fisher declared the Church in Sydney to be in a “second spring.” The archbishop attributed the historic growth among the faithful to the Holy Spirit in a speech given over the weekend to Catholic business leaders, according to a report in Catholic Weekly.
“These aren’t just people raised Catholic who are returning — but individuals from diverse backgrounds who are encountering the faith for the first time and finding something deeply compelling,” he said, observing “a genuine hunger for spiritual meaning in an increasingly fragmented world.”
Fisher delivered his speech at a May 30 event with the theme “Signs of Hope in This Jubilee Year,” organized by the Archdiocese of Sydney and sponsored by Catholic Super, a retirement savings fund organization.
Reflecting on the increasing Mass attendance rates across the archdiocese, Fisher joked: “I might have to get a bigger cathedral.”
Apart from parish life, Fisher pointed to the archdiocese’s Catholic schools, noting that enrollments are “the highest they’ve ever been, and keep growing.”
This phenomenon is not unique to Sydney alone, he noted, citing dioceses across the U.S. that saw similar booms in adult conversions this year.
Among them was the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which welcomed more than 5,500 new Catholics this past Easter, its highest number of Easter converts in 10 years.
The bishop also pointed to the U.K., which also experienced its highest surge of entrants into the faith this year. France also saw a record 45% increase in new converts at Easter, with young adults making up the majority of the country’s 10,384 adult conversions.
While Fisher credits the Holy Spirit for the current upward trend of religious conversion, he also noted factors in everyday life that he sees as driving forces, such as the experience of the COVID pandemic.
Some, he added, were “wowed by the beauty and sacredness of the liturgy, art, or music” or drawn in by a sense of community.
“It might be too early to declare winter now past, but flowers have appeared in our land,” he concluded. “There are signs of hope.”
Madalaine Elhabbal is a staff reporter for Catholic News Agency based at EWTN’s Washington, D.C., bureau. She has been published by CatholicVote and has also worked as foreign language assistant in France. She is a graduate of Benedictine College.
