Something is happening in Western Europe, and it is good, maybe because God is real and alive, and God’s grace uplifts and betters human nature.
Although Americans historically take little interest in things abroad, American Catholics should take note of these events in Europe, since Western European trends often have a strong impact upon this country.
For several generations, Catholicism, and all religions, have been on the downhill track in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Ireland and so on. Many sociologists said that Christianity was dying in these places.
Now many are saying that religion is in big trouble in our own country. A multitude of statistics support this opinion, with identification with churches, regular attendance at religious services and applications for the clerical life all declining drastically.
Abandonment of religion among youth and young adults is especially disturbing.
But new developments suggest, at least, a reversal in Western Europe. Noticeably, many young people are taking an interest in religion, especially in the Catholic Church.
The big news in France this past spring was the number of young adults who approached a priest asking to be baptized as Catholics. At the Easter Vigil, nearly 18,000 French men and women were baptized in Catholic churches at their request.
One man’s search for purpose and meaning
One young man gave his reasons. Both his parents were born into Catholic homes. They were baptized, made their first holy Communions and were confirmed. They were married in Catholic ceremonies.
Then, cultural attitudes changed dramatically. Being Catholic fell out of fashion. It was seen as antique, ridiculous, a burden. When children such as this young man were born, parents had no interest in seeing them baptized. As this young man grew, he was never taken to church, never introduced to the sacraments and never was taught anything about the Catholic Church.
He knew his grandparents, however, and they told him how they had confronted life and survived the horror of the Second World War because they found comfort and hope, as well as an explanation of evil, in their Catholic faith.
This young man reached adulthood. He saw a world lost in a frenzy of hatred and struggle. He saw his contemporaries desperately seeking some purpose in life, finding nothing in sex or in accumulating things.
Remembering his grandparents, he investigated the faith that sustained them. He saw that Christianity makes sense as nothing else does. One day, he went to the local parish, expressing an interest in being a Catholic. He was baptized during the Easter Vigil, thanking God for bringing him to that moment.
God is the one, and only, answer
The decline of interest in, and connection with, religion, especially Catholicism, worries every Catholic leader, from the pope down, and millions of Catholics in the pews. No Catholic family has been spared the sight of a spouse, a parent, a child or a friend who has given up on the Church.
What rewarding alternative has been found? The young French man discovered that no alternative exists.
Pope Leo XIV is a professed member of the Augustinians, an ancient religious community inspired by St. Augustine.
St. Augustine lived many centuries ago, but still he is regarded as one of the Church’s greatest minds. He said that human hearts are restless until they rest in the Lord. Although not yet far into his papacy, Pope Leo has already quoted this statement often.
Human hearts are in need. Every person wants to know, needs to know, what life is all about, why troubles come, what life requires to be fulfilling, how every single person fits into the picture, and what is the recipe for peace, in individual souls and among nations.
As St. Augustine said, “Lord, our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” God is the answer, the one, and only, answer.
Let us pray that the rediscovery of Catholicism in Europe will endure.
