Last year, a record 17,000 adults were received into the French Catholic Church on Holy Saturday. This record is set to be broken again in 2026, with 21,386 set to be baptised. Tony Wilson takes a look at the reasons behind the highest number seen in decades - and what the Church needs to do next
When the Conference of Bishops in France announced last Easter that the number of adults baptisms had increased to over 17,000, many thought this rise would be short-lived.
Now, they have announced that 21,386 adults will be baptised this Holy Saturday. The Catholic Church is celebrating another huge increase over the average annual number – which has sat at around 5,000 for the last few decades.
This very precise number is known because those being prepared for baptism take part in three ‘scrutinies’ on the Sundays approaching Easter. On each occasion, they stand before their congregation and declare their intention to become followers of Jesus, after which the priest lays hands on them and prays. Parishes submit their numbers to the diocese and the Catholic Church in France collates them.
Churches need to understand how to disciple new Christians and give them the tools to strengthen their deepening faith
Father Thibaud de la Serre is a priest at St Joseph in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, an average market town in rural France. This Easter, he will baptise 17 adults - mostly young people - and even this close to the day, Thibaud says he has more people requesting baptism after every mass. He explained that members of the congregation will be assigned to teach and accompany each one on their journey in faith and prepare them for baptism next year.
Drawn to faith
Interested to know what is driving this surge in faith, the French bishops polled 1,450 of those being baptised. Satisfyingly low among the reasons for their pursuit of faith are online influencers and social media, at 11%. The most frequently cited motivators are related to challenging personal circumstances such as illness or bereavement (40%), a search for answers about Christianity (34%) or a strong spiritual experience (32%). Still others reported that reading the Bible (22%) or the testimony of Christian friends (19%) triggered their journey.
82% of the candidates are aged under 40, and those between 18 and 25 amount to 42% of the total. The Bishop of Lyon, Mgr Olivier de Germay, who received around 500 letters from people requesting baptism in the last year, said the data was “a great joy for the Church”, and a sign of renewed vitality. This open expression of spiritual thirst shows that faith is no longer a taboo in society, as it has been for some time.
The research also found that many of those coming forward for baptism come from backgrounds with no faith history or religious education and, quite frequently from strongly held atheist beliefs.
But some say that this surge of adult baptisms is more a sign that this is the first generation whose parents chose not to baptise their children. This may well be the case, acknowledged Fr Antoine Laviale, the priest in charge of the mission to students in Toulouse – see the feature article from last year - but it is impossible to know how many of those baptised as infants would have gone on to make an adult commitment to follow Christ. It is significant that we have adults making this active choice to join the Church.
Prepared for life
Asking him about the reported ‘baptism blues’ that may cause those new to faith to fall away, Fr Antoine agrees that this is an issue the Church needs to better understand. He explained that many churches are not used to integrating so many adults who are new to faith - and some need to learn how to do this better.
We also need to spend time preparing new Christians for the spiritual battlefield that can take place on the other side of baptism, he added. Many young adults arrive with recent histories that are a long way from a Christian lifestyle, and it can be hard for them to work through the spiritual implications. Churches need to understand how to disciple new Christians and give them the tools to strengthen their deepening faith.
Even so close to Easter, Thibaud says he has more people requesting baptism after every mass
Fr Antoine is currently setting up support hubs in some larger French cities - and even one in London - to resource the students who leave the pastoral care of Toulouse. Having formed many disciples and given them the tools to carry out their own mission is important, but to support them as they start busy careers in distant cities is a new aspect of our work, he says.
Will we see another record broken in 2027? We can’t yet say, but this intake of adults can only create further testimonies of new lives in Christ. The influx of new Christians, at the start of their adult lives, is going some way to fill the missing demographic gap that the Church has known for some time.
More than this, their stage in life means that they bring many more friends, colleagues and young families into the orbit of faith. The Holy Spirit is at work across France - once called the ‘eldest daughter of the Church’, this province has signs of new life.
No comments yet