Many Catholic dioceses are reporting more people joining the church, but experts say it’s not a religious revival.
On a cold June evening in San Francisco, about 30 members of a young adult group gathered on the steps of St. Dominic’s, a towering century-old neo-Gothic Catholic church in the Lower Pacific Heights neighborhood, talking about life and faith.
“Definitely here in San Francisco at St. Dom’s, I do see that the ratio is more men than women,” said Sharon Truong, who joined the group after she moved to San Francisco last year. “Everywhere else I’ve been to – so when I was in Baltimore and when I was in San Diego for my medical school training – I felt like it was either 50-50 at most or, like, mostly women.”
Stephen Staten, a member of the group since 2017, said he’s seen a shift too, thinking back to 20 years ago when he said going to church was not as popular among men…