A growing hotspot for college students in Los Angeles used to mean a bar or a trendy coffee shop. But at the University of Southern California, lately it’s been the Catholic Mass.
At USC’s Caruso Catholic Center and Our Savior Church, a record-breaking number of young adults attended Mass and converted into the Church during the 2025-26 school year.
The growing number of students interested in the faith at USC is both a reflection of a broader surge of Catholic conversions in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and across the nation.
“I come to church, it’s full, and I think to myself, ‘Wow, this is amazing. Nobody’s parents dragged them into Mass this morning,’ ” said Father Matthew Wheeler, pastor of Our Savior and a graduate of USC himself. “All of these students are here because they chose to be.”
At Our Savior, the number of catechumens and candidates more than doubled to 44 between 2023 and 2026, said Deacon Paul Pesqueira, the coordinator of sacramental preparation. At the Easter Vigil, 16 were baptized into the Church while 49 were confirmed in the spring.
“I think culturally young adults are seeking something greater,” Pesqueira said. “They’re seeking substance, something that has transcended time. That’s the Roman Catholic faith.”
The growing number of students is also a result of Our Savior’s mastery of blending online and in-person encounters to build community.
The method the Catholic Center, which students refer to as the CC, uses to encounter students doesn’t just involve tabling or on-campus events, but reaching young adults through the place they’re rarely separated from: social media.
“We’re actually what I like to call digital evangelists,” said Ricky Cruz, director of creative and marketing at the USC Caruso Catholic Center. “We’re going into this space that is sometimes full of bad things, right? And we’re trying to spread the Gospel through that.”
Since coming to Our Savior in 2024, Wheeler’s followers on Instagram have grown to more than 190,000, while on TikTok, the priest has more than 35,000 followers.
“They come because they see the reel, but they stay because of what has been built,” Pesqueira said.
On the campus of about 40,000 students, some believe Wheeler’s presence has made a dent in Mass attendance and OCIA participation.
“More people on campus who aren’t Catholic know about the Catholic Center just because of Father Matt,” said Jeryn Dizon, a recent graduate and former president of the students’ leadership board. “If I say I’m Catholic, they’ll be like, ‘Oh yeah, I saw the priest’s reel on my Instagram.’ ”
What also helped, Dizon said, was the election of Pope Leo XIV and the Church’s first American pope, which triggered a massive influx of information online about the Catholic faith.
“People are hungry for the truth, and they’re hungry just to learn more,” said Jazmin De Guzman, a digital marketing specialist at the Catholic Center. “Within that digital space, I think a lot of people are utilizing our faith so that others who may not necessarily know about it as much have an opportunity to tap into that.”
Nathan Torres, who came into the Church this spring, remembers the first time he felt the call to become Catholic.
“I went to Mass at the CC for the first time during Lent. I sat in the front row and Deacon Paul looked me in the eyes while he was reading the Gospel, and he said, ‘Let us rejoice for my son, who’s home,’ ” said Torres, a junior at USC studying health promotion and disease prevention studies. “In that moment, I was like, ‘I’m home, I need to become Catholic.’ ”
Soon after Torres started his journey from being Baptist to Catholic, he immersed himself in what the Catholic Center had to offer, including OCIA classes and a pilgrimage to Poland.
“One of the most important places [is] college OCIA programs,” Torres said. “It’s the next generation of Catholics, the youth, the young people of the Catholic Church, preparing them to go out and make disciples.”
The broader interest in religion has become so prevalent across the USC campus that the university has featured a story on growing student participation in religious life in its Trojan Family Magazine.
“I definitely see us, on one level, being able to partner with the university to alleviate a lot of these struggles and challenges that young people are having today,” Wheeler said. “To serve their soul is to help serve them holistically, body, mind, and spirit.”
Yet, Wheeler and the center’s staff agree that their social media posts simply reflect the community that has been built at Our Savior.
“No one is looking to be part of a community that is full of bulletin boards or because of our events,” Cruz said. “It’s because they’re looking for community and they’re looking for meaning.”
Once students arrive at the center, Wheeler notes that their emphasis is for students to grow in discipleship, or “a process by which one begins to really follow Jesus, to grow in a relationship with Jesus.”
During the academic year, Our Savior offers multiple opportunities for Eucharistic adoration and confession, two daily Masses during the week and three Sunday Masses, including one at 8 p.m.
“I know young people are thirsting for that encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist, encountering God in the silence in prayer,” Wheeler said. “The Lord is doing a lot of good through that and we're trying to make that accessible.”
For the upcoming 2026-27 school year, there are already 50 individuals registered to receive sacraments.
“It’s all attributed to God, and the gift of the Holy Spirit,” Pesqueira said. “I’m just the guy that’s just helping navigate it. I give all glory to God because it sure as heck isn’t me.”
