In February 2025, Daniel Petrina joined a group of young Croatian Catholics at the Benedict XVI Retreat Centre in its bushland setting north-west of Sydney for a weekend retreat.
It combined talks by clergy with Mass, good food, and even a workout. There, he says, he transformed from a nominal Catholic who considered practising his faith “a bit unappealing” to a fully committed one.
“I left school early to start a trade, but once I started to talk to older and wiser people about life, I realised my life was very mediocre without the faith,” he says.
His story reflects a pattern noted by church leaders and researchers.
The Australian Community Survey (2024), conducted by NCLS Research, found 39 per cent of Generation Z men – defined as aged 18 to 28 – identify as Christian, compared with 28 per cent of Generation Z women.
It is the first time young men have outnumbered women in Christian identification in the survey’s three-decade history, made more striking as it relates to a generation of “digital natives” often characterised as highly materialistic.
Recent research suggests this shift is present in other Western countries too; that this particular generation, and possibly its men, is increasingly showing signs of interest in Christianity and church life.
In the United Kingdom, one study claims church attendance has risen to 16 per cent among 18-24 year-olds, and that men have become the predominant presence in churches, with attendance up to 13 per cent.
Sales of Bibles have risen by 134 per cent across the West since 2019, with booksellers observing that many purchasers are young people.
While figures like these say little or nothing about long-term religious affiliation or church attendance, they form part of a global picture in which both younger women and men are exploring faith in new ways to encounter Christian life through scripture, community events, or online.
At his parish in Sydney’s south-west, St Peter Chanel and St Joseph in Berala, Fr Josh Miechels says younger men are finding three essential things in the church.
“They’re looking for love, they’re looking to be loved, and they want to see their love received,” he told The Catholic Weekly.
“Currently there’s uncertainty about whether society believes in men anymore, because often what one hears is that the idea of a man is that of a patriarchal authority with oppressive control.
“Catholicism and Christianity welcome younger men struggling with that image and help them become more confident and virtuous men.”
Fr Daniele Russo, vocations director for the Archdiocese of Sydney, has also reflected on the broader cultural factors at play.
“Nature abhors a vacuum. Once we trialled secularism, we discovered how empty it was,” he said.
“I think this experience coincided with traditional Christianity taking on a newfound credible appeal. The ‘new atheists’ have mostly lost their steam, and popular intellectuals are emerging who are open towards the faith, if not personally professing it.
“When you add in a generation of non-practising, nominal Christians in the West, many young people feel like they are discovering the Christian faith for the first time – and it’s exciting.”
Podcasts and digital media have amplified some of those younger voices, including psychologist Jordan Peterson, Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire ministry, and Fr Mike Schmitz’s Bible in a Year podcast.
For Daniel Skinner, a musician and philosophy tutor at the University of Notre Dame Australia, it was Peterson who first opened his eyes to the “beauty and truth of the faith,” before Bishop Barron’s work convinced him his heart would be “restless” without Christ.
“I felt quite existentially lost around my late teens and early 20s,” he says.
“But the more I learnt about Christianity, and the more I was convinced of the historical evidence of Christ’s resurrection, the more I gravitated toward the Catholic faith as the ultimate answer to my search.”
When Skinner’s exploration led him to taking on academic work in philosophy and theology at the university, it was a decision that sealed his conversion to Catholicism.
“The truth of the faith kept me coming back: the undeniable reality of Christ’s divinity, and the peace I was experiencing from coming to Mass and praying to God. It was such an exciting time.
“My friends in the Catholic university chaplaincies community were significant anchors for me. Most people I had met outside of the church were mostly disinterested in the deepest questions about life’s meaning, God, and death.
“So it was refreshing to see that energy and intellectual engagement of young Catholics at university.”
Church leaders say an increase in Catholic events offered primarily to men has also played a role in deepening their engagement.
In Sydney, the Be Not Afraid men’s conference, now in its fourth year, has reported steadily rising attendance since its inception in 2023. Likewise, the Camino of St Joseph overnight men’s pilgrimage has grown, with increasing numbers and an international documentary marking its fifth anniversary in 2026.
Nationally, the Australian Catholic Youth Festival has seen large swathes of Gen Z men and women congregate in major Australian cities in recent years to deepen their faith and be encouraged in evangelising to others.
Recently, Petrina enrolled in the Exodus program, a US-founded initiative encouraging prayer, ascetic discipline and fraternity during Lent, for the second time.
“As I’ve become more involved in the parish and connected more deeply with my faith over the last year, I feel a lot more prepared for it. I slacked off last year but the graces I did receive helped me understand Christ’s Passion and the sacrifices he made for us.”
Campbell Evans, team leader of Sydney Catholic Youth, believes such initiatives offer something many young men are seeking.
“They can be quite fun and a little challenging, which is great for blokes, and you get to experience the camaraderie and strength of the male Catholic community,” he said.
Daniel Ang, director of the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation which hosts Be Not Afraid and the Camino, sees at the core of the phenomenon the importance of curiosity, a deep desire for fraternity in a fractured world, and the role of parishes in fostering “genuine hospitality.”
“It’s important to be attentive to the moment and the society we’re living in,” he says.
“Many men are searching and quietly carrying questions about meaning, belonging and faith,” he said.
“Parishes and communities can help them by being ready to receive them through spaces where encounters can unfold. Even if a few eventually respond to Christ’s call to discipleship, keeping the door open matters.”
Petrina remembers walking through that door and experiencing gratitude and grace.
“It’s interesting how a simple prayer, or following the Rosary, can heal and cut through all the brokenness,” he says. “There’s such authenticity to the church; it’s made me realise there is more to life than just the material world.
“It’s been a wonderful journey, and there’s much more to explore.”
