By Emeritus Professor Michael Quinlan, The University of Notre Dame Australia
I attended the Alliance For Responsible Citizenship (ARC) Conference in London in June this year. It was the largest conference yet, attracting about 4,000 attendees.
For those not familiar with ARC, “the Vision” set out in the booklet provided at ARC 2026 was this:
“ARC is a global movement of leaders and change makers who are committed to creating a future characterised by the moral and common-sense values that laid the foundation of our Judeo-Christian civilisation and created our original prosperity.”
ARC is not a religious organisation, but many Christians attend ARC and many of the speakers are Christians. ARC does include a prayer breakfast which well over 1,000 Christians attended this year.
Consistently with “the Vision” set out above, many speakers at ARC were overt in calling for a revival of Christianity as an integral component of the re-invigoration of Western civilisation. Author Os Guinness spoke of God as essential to the survival of freedom and respect for human dignity.
The Christian US astronaut Victor Glover, who captained the recent Artemis II mission to the moon, spoke of the wonder of God’s creation with human dignity at its centre. Rod Dreher, author of The Benedict Option, advocated for a return to the West’s Christian roots.
German philosopher and theologian Dr Johannes Hartl argued that God and the truth and depth of the Christian faith needed to return to the centre of life. Harvard professor and author Dr Arthur Brooks spoke of the centrality of religious belief and purpose to human happiness.
Eric Metaxas spoke of the Christian foundation of the US and the key role Christianity played in the abolition of slavery in the US. David Stroud spoke of William Wilberforce, the Clapham Circle and the key role Christianity played in the abolition of slavery in the British Empire.
As ARC concluded, I thought that it would have been valuable if it had considered how a revival of Christianity might occur in the West.
I still think that, but my experiences in London and in the few weeks I spent afterwards in Scandinavia made me think that such a revival may already be underway.
Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP and former vice-chancellor of the Australian Catholic University Greg Craven, among others, have written and spoken about green shoots of such a revival, with growing numbers joining the church this Easter.
At ARC, Dreher also spoke of some signs of hope, describing his interactions with young European Catholics on a three-day pilgrimage to Chartres. In the four weeks I was abroad, I was pleased to find that every Sunday Mass I attended was full. I attended two Masses at Our Lady of Victories parish on Kensington High Street in London.
Whilst one of the priests of the parish, most of the dozen or so altar servers and a few of the congregants had an African background, I was surprised that the congregation was almost entirely locals with an English background.
Clearly the parish is a vibrant one which is very engaged with the parish school. At each Mass junior school children expertly read a reading. Each had spent much time practising the names and more difficult words. At one Mass a school choir sang.
The congregation included large numbers of families and many young people of university age and above.
In the 1870s forward-thinking Catholics built St Paul’s, in the Norwegian town of Bergen, with more than 300 seats, although there were then only a few dozen Catholics in the city.
The parish now serves almost 20,000 Catholics from more than 120 countries including Vietnam, India, Chile, the Philippines, Poland and Lithuania. It offers Mass in many languages.
Attending a Norwegian-language morning Mass at St Paul’s, I found the congregation came from a wide range of cultures, including quite a few South Americans.
The Swedish-language morning Mass at the Church of Our Saviour in Malmo also attracted a congregation from many cultures, with quite a few rows having a Vietnamese background. There really do seem to be green shoots of Christian revival taking place.
Coming from a Sydney parish with parishioners from all over the world, I think that the dynamic faith of newcomers from non-Western cultures is a major driver of higher attendance and enthusiasm for the faith.
Whilst there was less diversity of backgrounds evident among the parishioners in London, the cheerful and deep faith of those with an African background in attendance was both obvious and infectious.
A few weeks in London and Scandinavia suggest that a revival of Christianity in the West, aided by the witness of those from places where the faith remains deep, is indeed underway.
We should all pray for that revival to spread deeper and wider.
