‘What’s truly striking is that the renewed interest in Catholicism doesn’t appear tied to any coordinated program or specific initiative organized by the Church.’
Show up a few minutes late to Mass at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Babylon, and you’ll likely find yourself standing in the vestibule.
At Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Holbrook, parking has been especially scarce as of late. Parishioners have had to find spots on the streets or in the woods alongside the church for 10 a.m. Mass.
We’re not talking about Christmas or Easter services.
This is any given Sunday — Sundays at church that are becoming more reminiscent of decades past.
“I’ve been attending this church for 25 years,” said Jo-Ann Hausman, a Good Shepherd parishioner. “Recently I have noticed an increase in people coming back to church. I mean a lot more than I have ever seen. It’s so nice to see our church crowded again!”
“Even our Pastor Jerry is blown away by the amount of parishioners that attend,” she added.
Another Good Shepherd parishioner, Roberta Kennedy, commented on a Greater Patchogue Facebook post, through which we asked readers for their observations. She wrote:
“Attend the 10 a.m. Mass at Good Shepherd in Holbrook and take a look! Better get there before 9:45 for a parking spot.”
“I would say it started about three months ago,” said John Coppola, 66, of Blue Point, a 20-plus year congregant of Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church in Blue Point. “Mass was usually half full, now it is about three-quarters full.”
What appears to be happening in Babylon, Holbrook and Blue Point isn’t isolated.
From Nassau to Suffolk, churchgoers say the pews have been noticeably fuller — a shift that mirrors reports of renewed interest in Christianity nationwide. Whether the surge has anything to do with the Sept, 10 assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk remains an open question, but many Long Island Catholics insist they’re witnessing something real, and they’re trying to make sense of it.
For a broader context, it’s been widely reported that After Kirk’s death, Bibles started flying off the shelves of bookstores and online.
“A 36% jump in [Bible sales] in September, compared with a year earlier, indicates a religious revival for some in the U.S.,” reads an Oct. 20 sub-headline in The Wall Street Journal.
Overseas, The Times of London printed this headline on Sept. 25:
The Charlie effect: how a political murder sparked a religious awakening
Hence, checking in on Long Island’s Catholic congregations now.
“Some pastors have indicated that people remarked to them after Mass that they were inspired to return to Church because of Charlie Kirk’s example and the tragic circumstances of his murder,” said Father Eric Fasano, who serves as a spokesperson for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, which covers Nassau and Suffolk counties
But, he cautioned, any apparent uptick in church attendance might not be tied to a single event.
“Pastors have also indicated, again anecdotally, that attendance at Mass has increased across Long Island since Christmas of 2024,” he said, while admitting that the Diocese’s “system of recording attendance is currently not reliable.”
Father Larry Duncklee of St. Joseph’s — who took over as the pastor in Babylon six months ago, in June — said attendance began to swell in the third week of September.
That would coincide with Kirk’s killing. But Father Larry said the surge at St. Joseph’s is certainly tied, in large part, to required Mass attendance for children enrolled in the parish’s religious-education programs.
“So more families attend,” he said. “From June until the third week in September, attendance was very low. I have been told that that is the normal experience for here.”
Other Catholics interviewed for this article pointed to excitement over the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first American Catholic Pope, for a possible attendance boost.
Still others cited the current Advent season, the preparation leading up to Christmas.
“Yes I have seen increases in Catholic Church attendance which is a very good thing, though we must be mindful it is the Christmas season with Advent and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception,” said Kevin O’Brien, an attorney who runs a firm in East Williston. “The real trick is to see if increased attendance lasts after the holidays and into the new year.”
GLI readers from evangelical and non-denominational churches have also reported upticks in attendance.
‘Something is happening’
Asked whether the Island or even the country might be in the early stages of a religious awakening, Father Eric didn’t dismiss the idea.
“Anecdotally, I hear from priests and bishops from diverse parts of the country that ‘there is something happening,’” he said.
What’s truly striking, he added, is that the renewed interest in Catholicism — the religious affiliation of roughly half the population here on Long Island — doesn’t appear tied to any coordinated program or specific initiative organized by the Church.
Instead, it seems to be arising organically, especially among young adults.
Father Eric pointed to numbers in several recent media reports, including a 373 percent spike in online searches for “how to become Catholic,” reported in May, and stories of young people converting en masse, as detailed in April by the New York Post.
This was all before the September killing of Charlie Kirk, a devout and unapologetic Christian who made his faith central to his public life, with a focus on reaching younger people with Christian and conservative messaging.
News articles dating to earlier this year had already indicated growing interest in attending church services among the younger generation. However, just this Monday, the Pew Research Center published a piece that reports polling shows no clear evidence of a religious revival among young adults.
A ripple effect
Even without hard numbers and relying on strictly anecdotal evidence, the Diocese says more people attending Masses in general carries a ripple effect far beyond Sunday services.
“We believe that our faith connects us to God… the source of all life,” Father Eric said. “People are searching for meaning, purpose, and for a challenge to be the best version of themselves they can be. We believe that that hunger is satisfied by being a disciple of Jesus Christ and giving yourself in love and service to God and others.
“That, in turn, benefits and unites the whole human family.”
Larger crowds at church also means more giving when those baskets are passed around.
“I have noticed increased attendance at our local Catholic Church in Hauppauge,” said Kathy Turano. “I think people are generous, too, whenever they have a fundraiser or collect food for the poor. They post the amount of the weekly collections, and they seem to be higher, too.”
Still, she added, “I wish I could get our kids back to Church.”
Top: Congregants outside St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church after a recent Sunday service. (Credit: GLI/Michael White)
