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Ireland’s youngest Catholics are returning to Mass at rates that defy two decades of decline, a report commissioned by the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference has found.

Weekly Mass attendance among young Irish Catholics more than doubled between 2020 and 2024, according to a new report commissioned by the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference — a finding that aligns with similar trends across the English-speaking world.

The report, The Turning Tide? Recent Religious Trends on the Island of Ireland, draws on data from the European Social Survey (ESS) and two recent Iona Institute surveys, and concludes that youth are returning to Mass at rates not seen in a generation.

The numbers are striking: weekly attendance among all Irish young adults rose from 9% to 14% between the 2020–22 and 2023–24 ESS rounds — but young Catholics led the way, with weekly attendance jumping from 7% to 17%, a 143% increase in four years.

However, the Catholic surge was specific to the under-30s, with overall Catholic attendance across all age groups remaining level at 32%.

Archbishop Eamon Martin, President of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference, welcomed the findings.

“There’s been a lot of talk recently about the so-called Quiet Revival,” he said, noting the report pointed to “some kind of uptick, particularly among young adults around the ages of 16 to 30.”

But he was careful not to overstate it. “I don’t think we should get ourselves too enthusiastic thinking this is a complete reversal of the very obvious decline in religious practice over the last ten, 20 years. However, it is saying something.”

What Explains the Shift

The report’s authors, Professor Stephen Bullivant of St Mary’s University in the United Kingdom, and PhD candidate Emily Nelson of Queen’s University Belfast, offered several explanations for the upswing.

Gen Z, they argue, came of age after the worst of the clerical abuse scandals, and are less likely to associate the Church with that period.

The authors also point to a cultural shift: as religious practice becomes genuinely optional, those who choose it increasingly do so as an expression of personal identity rather than social obligation — a pattern documented among young Catholics in Britain as well.

They likewise note that 70% of Gen Z follow at least one online influencer — and that Christian influencers may be reaching some in this cohort.

The picture is not uniform across the island, however. In the Republic of Ireland, 18–24-year-olds remain the least likely generation to attend Mass, while in Northern Ireland, the same cohort is among the most faithful.

Signs on the Ground

The statistical picture is matched by developments in the pews. As reported by the Irish Times, the Archdiocese of Dublin is set to welcome a record 129 catechumens and candidates into church membership this Easter — up from 80 in 2025, and from just 22 in early 2020.

Ireland’s experience aligns with trends documented elsewhere in the English-speaking world. In the UK, church attendance rose from 3.7 million in 2018 to 5.8 million in 2024, with young people accounting for the largest share of growth.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Herald recently reported that Westminster Diocese recorded 500 adult baptisms in 2025 — a 25% increase on the prior year — and is set for 800 more in 2026, a 100% increase in two years.

Individual parishes have had to expand their inquiry classes to keep pace, with Oxford Oratory alone welcoming 32 adults in February this year.

Archbishop Martin closed with a pastoral call: “How are we responding to this growing body of young people who want to know more about God, about Church, about religion?”

The next ESS round, due in 2025–26, will confirm whether the 2023–24 figures mark the beginning of a sustained trend.

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