Gen Z are embracing Catholicism. As someone raised Roman Catholic, Anna Moloney wonders why her nominal religion is suddenly so chic. Could the answer be ‘accessories’?
“Crucify him! Crucify him!” I’m eight years old, shouting with my peers, fists raised, as we rehearse for our class performance of the Stations of the Cross. I’ve joined the chorus for rehearsals, but for the big show itself I’ll be stepping up to play Mary Magdalene, who may or may not have been a whore (undecided by scholars). But in the classroom it’s a very respected role (underachievers have been relegated to percussion) and just one of the many strangenesses of growing up Roman Catholic.
I didn’t know Catholicism was strange until I entered secondary school. There, having played a key member of Jesus’s entourage no longer begot classroom clout. And the discovery of the deeper meaning of many of the rituals I had placidly participated in (that I had worn a mini wedding dress for my Holy Communion aged seven, so as to consent to my “marriage with Christ”, for instance) was slightly unsettling.
What then to make of the latest Gen Z fad: God.
Rosary beads, labubus and the Catholic aesthetic
That’s right, it’s not just Labubus (see the gremlin-like idol hanging from Mary’s shoulder strap above) deemed worthy of Gen Z adulation, but Christ our Lord and Saviour. Harry Styles was even spotted among the crowds waiting for white smoke during the recent Conclave.
A report has shown a significant uptick in church attendance among the young. Indeed, according to the survey commissioned by Bible Society and conducted by YouGov, church attendance among 18-24-year-olds has quadrupled since 2018, jumping four per cent to 16 per cent. Now, this group is the second most likely to attend church, outstripped in holiness only by the 65-and-overs.
But within this trend is also a denominational shift, and it’s Catholicism specifically that’s in. Today, just 20 per cent of 18-24-year-old churchgoers identify as Anglican (down from 30 per cent in 2018), while 41 per cent do as Catholic.
Of course, given just a smidgen of thought, it makes perfect sense. What do the Catholics have that the Protestants don’t: accessories. Rosary beads, crucifixes, jewel-toned chasubles with golden embroidery: the Catholic wardrobe is what Gen Z might describe as yassified. Sabrina Carpenter’s music video for her hit song Feather sees her, clad in black tulle veil and golden crucifix, prancing along the altar of a Catholic Church in New York. “Jesus was a Carpenter,” the young pop star later justified when the video proved controversial, though it didn’t stop the priest who approved the filming being stripped of his duties.
As millennial minimalism gives way to unapologetic maximalism, religion is yet another medium through which aesthetics can prove decisive. “Much more emphasis on the frills rather than the theological guts,” a practicing young Catholic described to me.
The appeal of mysticism
But that’s not entirely fair. The report didn’t just note an increase in church attendance, but also a heightened vigour for faith and a commitment to spiritual practices. Young churchgoers were the most likely to pray regularly, while reporting high levels of belief in God. That may sound basic, but that’s far beyond the call of duty in the Bouncy Castle Catholicism I was raised within (a parish priest once drunkenly confessed to a relative that he didn’t believe in God).
In a world of chaos and alienation, young people are craving order but they are also craving the indulgence of faith Catholicism offers. As millennial minimalism gives way to unapologetic maximalism, religion is back on the menu. Not pragmatism, but mysticism. This is the body and blood of Christ. Pentecostalism, where churchgoers are regularly ‘possessed’ by the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues, has risen in popularity, too, while an interest in tarot, along with a wider reverence for ritual and discipline (see 5am morning routines), speak to the same impulse.
Arguably, it is the seriousness of Catholicism that appeals most to the young. Happy clappy evangelicalism had its moment in the 2010s, especially with megachurch Hillsong, a hangout for the likes of Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez and the Kardashians, but such transparent attempts to be ‘hip’ now seem obviously lame. By contrast, the Catholic Church, which may have become more progressive but has not visibly attempted to brand itself as ‘cool’ over the last decade, has managed to become chic for its insouciance. And, of course, its eye for interiors hasn’t hurt.
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