Dioceses across the country have reported significant increases in adults entering the Catholic Church in the last few years, and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is no exception.
In 2023, LA welcomed 3,462 catechumens and candidates — both children and adults who had never been baptized, plus those who had been baptized but had never completed the other sacraments — into the Church at Easter. Then in 2024, there were 3,596. In 2025, a significant bump of a combined 5,587 entered.
For Easter 2026, the archdiocese expects an even more staggering increase: 8,598 catechumens and candidates.
So what’s behind the surge in conversions?
Church leaders say there’s no clear answer. Some point to a reawakening born from the personal desolation experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Others credit the spirit created by the three-year National Eucharistic Revival throughout the country. Many find it to be a sign of spiritual hunger caused by a confusing and turbulent world.
It could be any of those things. It could be none of those things. But for these individuals in the archdiocese, it was God himself who has brought them uniquely to this moment.
Malain Houmoeung’s tipping point came while sitting in the hospital ER in 2023, wondering how seriously ill her father’s health was. She was also in a toxic relationship. Life, and all the responsibilities that came with it, had become too overwhelming.
Something told her to start reading the Bible, which was not the norm for her, considering she was raised Buddhist in a Cambodian family.
“I remember just praying, like, oh God, I’m sorry, can you just please help me out?” Houmoeung, 33, said. “I don’t know what to do anymore. Like, I’m just at my wits’ end.”
After trying Protestant churches, she attended a Catholic Mass and it clicked for her.
“When I was going to Mass, I felt a lot closer,” Houmoeung said. “I just felt so much more of a belonging there and just appreciating the customs and the traditions that have been passed down.”
She began attending OCIA classes at St. Cornelius Church in Long Beach. There, she’s learned to lean more on God, pray, and just trust that he has a plan for her.
It seems to be working. Houmoeung met someone, Matt, who was on the same faith journey as her and will become Catholic this Easter at Holy Redeemer Church in Montrose. They’re getting married in July.
“Through my trials and tribulations, things that were happening around me had to fall apart in order for me to let go of control and let go of doing things my way and just trusting God and having faith,” she said. “It took me some time to figure out.”
Jennifer Solares Gonzalez grew up with a single mom who was a Seventh Day Adventist, and while she felt she believed in God, there was a judgment she always perceived related to religion.
“It always felt like I had to measure up to a certain expectation, and anything that came less than that, felt consequential. That there was always something that I wasn’t doing right,” said Gonzalez, 30, a Pasadena resident who teaches sixth grade in Sun Valley.
She met her now-fiancé, Charles, six years ago, and he and his family were Catholic. While others assumed she would feel pressure to convert, she said there wasn’t any of the judgment she felt when she was younger.
“There was always this sense of acceptance and grace,” Gonzalez said. “There's never been a moment where I feel like if I have done something that I’m not proud of, that all of a sudden I was a bad person. It just meant that I had an opportunity for growth. Just having that perspective of that’s how God views us was a very big gift for me.”
But it wasn’t until the experience of loss that came with her uncle’s death that she finally took the step of converting to Catholicism.
“I remember going to Mass that first Sunday after he had passed,” Gonzalez said. “And I felt this overwhelming amount of grief, but also, I guess, peace at the same time. I kept that kind of core memory with me since deciding to convert because I know that was the first time where I was just like, oh, this is where I have to be.”
Now, as she prepares to become Catholic along with planning for her wedding in June, Gonzalez says she sees God “is the person standing next to me.”
“Right now, life is very stressful, and he’s the one that’s grounding me to really take a moment and just be in the present time and take things as they come, rather than stress for the future.”
Cameron Smith will admit that before he began exploring the Catholic faith, he had a pretty negative outlook on the world. Wars. Hypocrisy. The toxicity of social media.
But after preparing to enter fully into the Catholic Church, he believes that God gave him a new heart.
“I feel like with so many horrible things that go on in the world, it’s easier to focus on the negative, instead of all the great things and the great people that are in it,” said Smith, 24, from the Mid-City neighborhood in Los Angeles. “I think increasing and building my relationship with God and through this Church has just helped me find more peace within that.”
Smith had cousins who were Catholic, and when he was younger, that seed was planted when they gave him a Bible, even though he didn’t understand it at the time.
“I felt like I was just reading words, you know, fancy Old English kind of words,” Smith said. “But now, as an adult, I feel like, wow, this is me really understanding all these great stories that are within it.”
Now, through his OCIA classes, he’s been deep-diving into the Catholic faith, trying to learn and understand every sacrament, every tradition, every prayer.
“It’s improved my life,” Smith said. “I feel closer to my family, I feel better mentally, and I’m excited to take part in the baptism and other sacraments. Really excited to move forward.”
Daniel Hernandez had a pretty good reason why he wanted to convert to Catholicism, which his wife already is: he wants a family.
“I want our kids to be Catholic,” said Hernandez, 34, married to his wife, Bryanna. “I want our kids to be able to understand the importance of why we go to Mass. I didn’t want any confusion: ‘Why is dad not going to Sunday Mass with us?’ ”
After recently moving to a new home in Garden Grove, and having already been exposed to the Church through his wife, signing up for OCIA classes was an easy decision.
“I’m already falling in love with the Catholic Church, so to learn more and to grow in it was a no-brainer for me,” he said. “I kept praying to God and asking him to help me with the journey.”
When they were dating, Hernandez’s wife took him to some spiritual exercises at St. Peter Chanel Church in Hawaiian Gardens, and that has led to a newfound quest for learning and excitement for his faith.
“I'm excited for the Easter Vigil,” Hernandez said. “I’m excited for my baptism. I’m excited to actually be forgiven for my sins. Yeah, just to officially be Catholic.”
