According to multiple reports, young people have flocked to the Catholic Church, especially the past year. Glenn believes it’s because of rituals. While progressives tried to change our shared traditions, some institutions are holding tight, and our young people are noticing. “Those rituals you do as a family are very important,” Glenn says. “They’re very human. And they’re not just Catholic traditions…a bride walking down the aisle, a soldier saluted at a ceremony, even the way we light candles to honor the dead. They mark moments that matter in our lives and they help organize things in our mind.” And in the religious sense, they create clarity, something that our younger generations have very little of as the world tells them nothing really matters.
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: It's Good Friday. One last story on faith. I was reading an article about Tammy Peterson. The wife of Jordan Peterson.
Last year, she walked into a Catholic Church and embraced a new faith. She was a survivor of cancer. And she found, you know, solace in the rosary's ritual. You know, beads and their rhythmic prayers and all of that. And it gave her peace through all of the fear that she had. She shared this last year with the Catholic Herald interview.
And she's not alone.
A New York Post article, this week, reports a surge in young people converting to Catholicism, with year-over-year converts increasing from 30 to 70 percent.
The archdiocese of Fort Worth says, there was a 72 percent jump in converts in the last year!
Something is happening. And I think it's rituals.
You know, Barack Obama knows, said his wife. That we're going to have to change everything. We're going to have to change our traditions. Our language. Our history.
Rituals bring things back together. At a time when we are told, you know, if you disagree with your family. Don't get together with your family. Those rituals that you do as a family, are very important.
They're deeply human.
And they're not just Catholic traditions or relics of the past. They're everywhere. A bride walking down the aisle. A soldier saluted at a ceremony. Even the way we light candles in honor to -- to honor the dead. They mark moments that matter in our lives, and they help organize things in our mind.
And rituals, in Catholicism, the Eucharist, or the confession, elevate this instinct. This need to the sacred. So it's not just -- it's not just a routine.
It is a bridge to meaning. And that matters.
Because when you have meaning, and there's a storm in your life, it gives structure, so it doesn't feel like the storm is just going to wipe you out entirely.
There was a study in 2013, in Scientific American. An article by a psychologist.
That explained that rituals, religious or not. Reduce anxiety. Steady us after loss.
And boost confidence before big moments.
And you can look at this. I mean, it's not faith-based. But think of athletes with a pre-game routine.
Or just a child calmed by a bedtime story.
Rituals amplify this.
New York Post. Noted that young converts now especially Gen Z crave, quoting, the clarity and certainty rejecting the, quote, last week alternatives of modern worship. Why? Because modern worship tells you, you can believe anything. There are no real rules. God will always just take you as you are.
And, I mean, he will. Warts and all. But you've got to do a little something. Try this on for size. How alive is the church over in England?
Has it ever been alive?
Church attendance among 18 to 24-year-olds has jumped from 4 percent to 2018 to 16 percent in 2024.
I would say there's something going on here.
And experts are saying, it is a hunger for substance. And for Tammy Peterson, it was the rosary. That was her lifeline.
And, you know, whatever it is, but whatever the ritual is. You don't have to be a Catholic or anything.
Whatever you are. But what if we all leaned into our rituals a little bit more?
Because they're universal.
I mean, think of the -- think of the little things that we do every day. The morning coffee poured in the same way, the same cup every day. A family holiday tradition. A quiet moment of prayer every day.
Rituals build communities. Like a congregation singing together. In unison.
Or a neighborhood block party. They mark time! They give us mile tones. Baptisms. Graduations. Funerals.
We now live in a world of screen and rush and rituals slow us down.
I don't have time!
Yeah. You do. That's exactly what you need. Rituals. It will slow you down. Make you present in the moment. They're not about rules.
They're all about meaning, if you do it right. This isn't about recognizing, you know, one faith over another. This is about recognizing what rituals do for us. The New York Post highlights how young people facing permaconflict.
Permaconflict. And secular individualism, are seeing traditional Catholicism as cultural defiance.
And you don't have to be a Catholic to find this. Maybe your ritual is, I don't know what it is.
But whatever it is, it can shape your heart and your day. And as we head to Easter this weekend, as we head to our hopefully -- you're attending your Easter service this weekend.
Take time to find your family's ritual. And I say that, my kids are scattered everywhere. And I'm having to go to Washington on Sunday.
And for the first time, I think in my life, I'm not together with my whole family on Easter. And I hate that!
Hate that. You know, things happen in life.
But no matter what faith you are, I mean, we can all learn from each other.
We are all part of one big body. And one big effort.
Because I believe the other side, as we started this show.
We started talking about this really evil editorial. This op-ed. On Substack. That started talking about. You know. When do we start killing people?
Hello?
There is evil. We are witnessing the growth of evil.
But I just gave you some status that show, yeah. But good stuff is happening too.
Generation Z is the hero generation. You watch. You watch.
They will put this back together. Just no matter where you are. No matter what you're doing this weekend, if you're a believer, just say it out loud this weekend, to somebody.
He has risen. Just share it with somebody. Just share the peace.
Live your ritual, whatever it is. Live your ritual.
It's so important.