Beyond the Pews
Welcome to Beyond the Pews, where we can explore matters of faith and life that effect our Catholic communities and our world.
There has been much talk recently about a Christian revival as many dioceses across the world have seen significant increases in the number of people wishing to be baptised or confirmed in the Catholic Church. Here are my own reflections on what might be at play and the challenges this poses for parish and diocesan RCIA teams.
RCIA and the Catholic Revival
It was both encouraging and moving to see St Patrick’s Cathedral full to the brim with catechumens, candidates, sponsors and fellow parishioners all gathering, to present to the Archbishop, those preparing for full initiation into the Catholic Church this Easter. These scenes (known as the Rite of Election) were replicated across the Country from Melbourne to Cairns, from Sydney to Perth. In Melbourne there were around 550 people.
The Catechumenate was revived at the Second Vatican Council and reflects the early Church’s practice of preparing adults (not infants) for entry into the Church, via baptism, confirmation and Eucharist. The Order of Christian Initiation of Adults is one of the lasting gifts of the Council and perhaps the Holy Spirit has not yet finished with its reinstitution.
There are a number of claims, in Australia, and beyond, that the spectacle of full Cathedrals for the Rite of Election is a sign of a Catholic (Christian) revival. These claims suggest that we are on the turn and that the recent decades of decline in those who identify as Christians is showing signs of an about face. The implication is that all we need to do is hold tight and wait.
This phenomenon, however, needs more reflection around what is actually happening and what it might mean for pastoral practice, evangelisation and catechesis at both the parish and diocesan level.
The reality is that infant baptism has been on the decline in the Catholic Church in Australia for some time. According to Dr Philippa Martyr (Catholic Weekly 2025) infant baptisms in Australia dropped from 66,769 in 2000 to 52,593 in 2022. That is a drop of around 21 percent in 20 years. At the same time the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has been reporting a consistent drop in those who identify with Christianity for many years. In the 2021 census, Christianity accounted for less than fifty percent of Australians religious identity. This means for the first time since the census data has been collected, Christians account for less than half the Australian population. These trends cause us to hesitate on the revival account to explain the full Cathedrals for the Rite of Election. So, what else might be going on?
Factors drawing people to the Church
First, with infant baptism on the decline and at least anecdotal evidence suggesting that a significant number of parents are deferring baptism until their children can ‘make up their own minds’ later in life, it should be no surprise that candidates are turning up in their teens or adult life. In my own parish there are at least four of the seventeen current catechumens who fit into this category. The question is how parishes (and dioceses) are prepared for this moment. What does it require of us to receive and adequately prepare these candidates?
Second, Australia is now a pluralist society. Despite the fact that we often hear claims that Australia is a secular culture, the reality would seem different. To see Australia through the lens (or paradigm) of secular versus religious, seems no longer adequate. Australia is indeed pluralising. This means that there are multiple and diverse ways that people hold life together. There are multiple and diverse ways that give meaning to life and to which people are committed. A secular (humanist) way is one among many. So is Christianity. Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism also play a significant role in the life of many Australians. One of the implications of this pluralism is that it demands something from everyone. Each of us has to determine where we stand. What ultimately holds our lives together? Where does our sense of purpose and meaning come from? What motivates us to live with, among and for others? There are many answers to these questions and the Catholic tradition has much to offer in the dialogue. This situation of pluralism invites us to take our part, as Catholics, in the conversation of life, not in an adversarial way but in an invitational and open encounter, bringing the Catholic faith into direct conversation with the actual lives of the candidates. There is no question that we also learn from our candidates and catechumens. Our parish group is made up of people from diverse backgrounds, two with no faith background at all, one from atheism, one from Islam and others from various connections with the Christian faith in other Churches. All have something to contribute to the identity formation of the whole group.
Third, the Catholic Church has had enormous global attention over the last decade as Pope Francis opened the way for a more synodal church. From the 2015 Synod on the Family where, among other things, the question of a place in the Church for same sex attracted people was brought to the floor, where the questions of a pastoral response to the divorced and remarried was tabled, to the 2023 World Youth Day in Portugal where Francis declared, “Todos, todos, todos” - the Church is a place for righteous and sinners, good and bad, everyone, everyone, everyone. The Synodal way of being Church, listening to and discerning the heart-felt movements of the spirit more broadly and deeply across the globe, cannot be underestimated in its appeal (call) to those who share a synergy with the Christian gospel, as lived out in the Catholic Church. Hundreds of thousands of people across the globe have participated in listening and dialogue sessions over the last decade as the Church has invited more and more people to participate in the discernment of the Spirit in the midst of the living Church. Has this movement also had an effect on adult searchers coming to the Church? If yes, then there are implications for how we function at parish and diocesan levels.
Alongside Synodality, Pope Francis called the church to the art of accompaniment. This involves ‘removing our sandals before the sacred ground of the other’ (EG 169). It involves walking alongside the other, listening to their real concerns, to their hopes, dreams, fears and anxieties. It means too, bringing the gospel to that encounter and allowing the spirit to animate and draw each of us to the next phase of discipleship. In relation to young people Pope Francis called the church to accompanying and encouraging the young without imposing our own road maps (CV 297).
We cannot underestimate the impact of this Synodal way of being Church. Many catechumens and candidates have found a Church, more welcoming, more humble, and willing to grapple with complexity. They have also seen a global leader, both in Pope Francis and Pope Leo, who explicitly has been inviting their presence. They are seeking a community of faith ready to accompany them on the journey. We will have to reckon further with what this will require of our parish and diocesan communities, now and into the future.
Fourth, the changing nature and purpose of Catholic Education in Australia also needs to be considered. Catholic schools today are both Catholic and largely, Government funded. As has always been the case the Catholic school has a role to play in the evangelising mission of the Church and in the promotion of the common good. All in our society should be better off because we have Catholic schools, not just Catholics. A Catholic school, at its best, is able to invite all stakeholders, parents, students and staff into a profound dialogue about the purpose and meaning of each life: not just in an abstract way but in a concrete and practical way. The Catholic school, like every Catholic institution, begins with the premise that each and every human being is made in the image and likeness of God. This means, therefore, each person has the ability to discover and to disclose the God in whose likeness they have been made. This is not just a matter of passing on doctrine or facts. It is an invitation to meet the person of Christ who is at the heart of the school and who animates its mission. It is an invitation to seriously consider the Gospel and its call to be fully human in the midst of a radically pluralist culture. It requires respect for alterity and a sensitivity to the movement of the presence of God in the world. A number of the Catechumens and candidates in our parish group have been awakened to the Christian faith via their association with the Catholic school and their children’s Catholic education. Once again there are implications for parish and diocesan life as this movement calls us into the future.
Implications for Parishes and Dioceses.
Full Cathedrals for the Rite of Election is good news. The above reflections, however, mean that we cannot simply rest on our laurels. As Pope Francis declared in Evangelii Gaudium we need to transform church structure, customs and schedules to be more evangelisation focussed (EV 27).
First, in the initial aftermath of the Second Vatican Council many parishes established RCIA teams and there was a ground-swell of interest with large numbers of people presenting, as adults, for baptism. With what seems like a new interest today, will each parish, now in a very different situation to the 1980’s be able to (re)build a competent team of catechists and leaders to assist in the accompaniment and formation of Catechumens and Candidates? What initial and ongoing formation for a renewed RCIA teams is needed? How will this be achieved? Will partnered parishes and regions need to come together to share resources and skills? Parish based RCIA will need to be renewed.
Those who lead the teams will need competencies in the reading and interpreting of Scripture, understanding the key teachings of the church and its creed, knowledge and experience of the sacraments and liturgical life of the Church. In addition, they will need skills of facilitation, dialogue and discernment. The RCIA proscribes four stages of initiation: enquiry, catechumenate, purification and enlightenment and mystagogy. Most RCIA teams are so exhausted by the time the Easter Vigil arrives that the posts-baptismal mystagogy gets left behind. Yet, so often this is where the real embedding of the life of faith begins. Parishes need more people and diverse teams to accompany the RCIA process through to a rich and fruitful completion. If not, the Rite of Election could end up as an annual gathering that fills Cathedrals but leads to a gradual fading of faith rather than an increase.
Second, learning the art of dialogue and encounter. This requires patient listening and accompaniment. We can draw on the great figures of history to assist us in this. Pope Leo recently encouraged catechists to remember works such as St Augustine’s, De Catechizandis Rudibus. We should draw on those who have gone before us. For Augustine the attitude of the catechist matters as much as the content; we are ultimately sharing the paschal mystery of Christ, his life, death and resurrection. And it will be the grace of God that touches the candidates in the end. They will believe in Christ not the catechist. He also reminds us that catechesis is not a matter of one size fits all. The real story of each person matters. Listening to the questions, doubts and resonances of each person will become a key activity. Exploring the multiple perspectives, backgrounds and connections people are making and bringing to the faith will be called for.
Third, promoting a synodal way of being Church. Parishes and RCIA teams will need to be renewed in the way of synodality. This means learning again to allow the word of God to be the first interlocutor of the catechumens and candidates. The conversations in the spirit that so characterise the Synod on Synodality can serve as a model of listening and dialogue in the catechumenal way. Beyond that the whole parish community is called to become a living witness to a Synodal way. An open, welcoming, humble and dialogical way can be the first opening of the door to those who are searching.
Fourth, we need to review the way that we handle infant baptism and the opportunities for formation with parents and families. Infant baptism still remains the predominant way that baptism occurs in the Church in many of our parishes. Perhaps it is time to review how we receive, accompany and deepen the faith of parents and Godparents who present their children for baptism. The RCIA may provide us with a model for them as well. We need to think about new ways of staging and supporting the baptism of our very young.
Fifth, partnership with our schools. Catholic schools too often become the scapegoat for the perceived lack of regular Church practice. How many times have we heard it said – ‘why do we bother sending our children to Catholic schools when they don’t end up going to Mass?’ There is an underlying assumption that Church practice rates in Australia would be soaring if only the schools were really teaching the faith.
The teachers, students and parents in our schools are, first of all, members of the society of our day. They, like all of us, live in a secularising and pluralising cultural environment. They experience the same pressures and pulls that come from that world. Catholic schools are no longer places where simply passing on ‘information’ suffices for either religious education or catechesis. The entry point must be to create an openness to reflect on and explore the diversity of worldviews in our midst. At the same time there is challenge to awaken a sensitivity to the transcendent, to the presence of the God whom Christians claim breathed life into the world and its peoples. This is not an automatic process. It too, requires time, patience and spaces where rich and reflective conversations can occur. Parishes and schools that can collaborate in this challenge of today may very well be the places where the RCIA will continue to flourish.
Conclusion
So is there a revival? The word revival can be interpreted in different ways. It sometimes conjures the image of an exuberant rejuvenation. For some the talk of a Catholic revival can ignite a nostalgic sense for what once was. In this way it represents a return to the hay day of Catholicism when Churches were full and confidence high. But there is no evidence that a return to mid-twentieth century cultural Catholicism is on the horizon. In Australia the practice rate of Catholics is less than ten percent. We would need at least 5,000 catechumens to achieve the mid-twentieth century revival. That makes the 500 in Melbourne seem very humble.
It seems that something else is at work. This should be no surprise, because Christianity has taken on quite different contours and creative expressions across the centuries. We can think of the move from the city to the desert, from the desert to the monasteries, from the security of the monasteries to the vulnerability of the mendicant orders, as the spirit aroused various charisms and the surrounding culture provided fresh ground for the gospel to be expressed in renewed ways. Christianity, while holding fast to the mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ, has possessed great flexibility and ingenuity in the way that it has faced the world and taken root in various cultures.
A moment shaped by adult searching, spiritual curiosity and intentional faith
We may just well be in the throes of a new moment. This moment is characterised by adult searching, by spiritual curiosity and intentionally taking on the faith. Adult searching calls for adult response. So, while we have invested heavily in school age religious education and catechesis in the past, we may need to pivot our catechetical resources towards adults as well. Adults are also resourceful, self-motivated and self-directing. As one catechumen said to me recently, “I use the group as the base for my learning and then I go elsewhere, look at other resources, read other literature, talk to other people.” Encounter, dialogue and accompaniment are more descriptive of this moment than religious instruction and formation.
A moment shaped by desire before obligation
We are in a moment where people are drawn not by obligation but by desire. Not one of our current group of catechumens and candidates has asked our team about the rules and regulations of Catholicism. A number have expressed their longing to feel the waters of baptism run over their heads and to process to the sanctuary to receive the body of Christ and to take their place in the assembly of those who have been called to witness to new life, love and hope. There is a deep desire to know Christ and to be known by Christ. The sessions that focus on prayer and meditatively reading of the scriptures have been by far the most popular nights of the RCIA journey with our group. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the obligations wrought by the gospel are unimportant or even that they are unimportant to the candidates. It does mean that the first impulse is desire for connection to Christ. RCIA teams need to be ready to delve into the riches and spiritual treasures of the tradition and share their own love of Christ before all else.
A moment shaped by pluralism.
We are also in a moment that is shaped by pluralism. As mentioned above the culture that we live in is much more characterised by pluralism than by the secular versus Christian paradigm. This diversity in worldviews opens the way for each individual to take a stand as to where and how they sit in the world in relation to faith, philosophy of life and meaning. This provides an opportunity for RCIA teams to welcome the search for individual identity that pluralism invites. For many that is an open search of discovery. For some that search will be for security. We often hear today that there is an increase, particularly of young men who are (re)turning to the faith and looking for certainty in truth. It is not surprising that in the midst of an increasingly pluralising environment that some people will seek black and white answers in what they experience, often, as a very colourful world. The challenge for the RCIA team is to create a space where all are welcome and safe, and at the same time to invite candidates to explore the dynamism of the faith. Christianity is not simply about dogma. It is an invitation to a relationship with the Christ who lives and moves among us and who so often calls us to leave behind our old ways and step into an unknown future.
A moment shaped by synodality, accompaniment, and authentic witness.
In the midst of the pluralising environment we need, now more than ever, those who can accompany us and walk the journey. The process of individualisation – each person facing their own challenge to hold or ‘put life together’ in the midst of radical diversity – means that accompaniment is more important than ever before. We are bombarded daily with propositions as to how to live, what to eat, how to exercise, how to meditate, who to trust, what to believe and much more. To navigate the world alone is fraught. The RCIA can provide the gift of accompaniment. Synodality and its emphasis on conversations in the spirit, train the whole group in the art of discernment that will serve well all participating, as they continue to traverse the unknown future as a newly initiated Christian.
A revivial?
It is clear that we are not experiencing a revival of Catholicism in the sense that this is a return to the past. Instead, what we are seeing is the opportunity to grasp a new moment in history. In the midst of a multi-world view, cultural environment, Christianity has not disappeared. The full Cathedrals for the Rite of Election are testimony to the fact the God continues to call people along the way. God continues to raise up a body with Christ as head. Christianity does not depend on any particular social or political arrangement. God continues to call people in any place and in every generation. The patterns and structures of living the faith that we set up are always contingent on the dynamism of the Spirit. The real question is whether we are prepared and ready to reshape the contours of our inherited ways and respond to this moment with renewed generosity, imagination, and hope.
Brendan J Reed
Easter 2026