Christine Coyle is getting used to the retreats she runs for young Catholics selling out.
“Any time I put something together for young adults, they’re excited,” said Coyle, the family and youth specialist at the Diocese of London in southwestern Ontario.
“They want it all. They want to know more. They want to grow more. They want to be involved more,” she said about the Catholics in their twenties and thirties who attend the retreat.
A recent poll from the Angus Reid Institute and Christian think tank Cardus suggests Coyle is witnessing a small part of a larger trend. According to the poll, more young Canadians identify as religious than old Canadians.
About a quarter of 18- to 34-year-olds were religiously committed, according to the survey. In contrast, among Canadians 45 and older, it was just 16 per cent.
Those who work with youth in religious settings say younger generations are more open to discussing religion and spirituality — and to sharing their own religious beliefs — than previous generations were at this age.
But sociologists caution these polling results are just the latest example of generations being more religious in their youth and then falling away from religion as they age.
“Once they leave home, they become more mobile, they’re less tethered to their original religious community,” said Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme, a sociology professor at the University of Waterloo.
‘Increased spiritual curiosity’
Generation Z — those born between 1997 and 2012 — and the younger generation alpha are often characterized as anxious.
The Mental Health Commission of Canada says about one in five Canadians are diagnosed with a mental illness by age 25. Some experts have pointed to the widespread use of social media as the cause.
Religious leaders say these mental health struggles are causing some young people to seek solace in religion. They also note that social media has enabled young people to be more public about their religious beliefs than previous generations.
“When you live in uncertainty, you do ask questions that are deeper, and that’s what we’re finding young people are asking about,” said Shaila Visser, national director of Alpha Canada. “There’s not a lot of places that you can go and explore regardless of what you believe.”
Alpha Canada aims to be that place. The organization offers a curriculum for churches to use to introduce nonreligious people to the Christian faith. Participants share a meal together, watch a short video and then discuss it. Some convert to Christianity after the course.
Many teenagers are interested in the program, says Visser. Of the 6,700 Alpha courses run in Canada during 2025, nearly half were for teenagers. Many are not from Christian homes, Visser says, and come because their friends invited them.
“There is an increased spiritual curiosity that we’re noticing amongst young people in our country,” she said.
Visser says this is partly due to teenagers struggling with anxiety and mental health.
“I think people are looking for an encounter of God that we haven’t seen in quite a number of years, because they recognize that looking internally is not giving them what they want.”
Aamir Jamal, a social work professor at the University of Calgary, sees a similar dynamic among the Muslim Canadian youth he studies.
For almost a decade, Jamal has interviewed young Muslim Canadians about how they understand their identity. He often hears them discuss how practising Islam helps relieve their anxieties.
One student told him that Islam helped him during his exams because it reminded him that his responsibility was to work hard, but that the results were up to Allah.
‘More brave’
Sources told Canadian Affairs that members of generations Z and alpha are often willing to discuss their religious beliefs.
This is not typical for many Canadians. According to the Angus Reid poll, just half of Canadians said they were comfortable with their religious beliefs being known publicly.
“[They’re] really taking ownership of their faith,” said Coyle. She regularly sees youth posting about their faith on Instagram, and says it may partly be due to Catholic celebrities, like actors Mark Wahlberg or Jonathan Roumie, speaking publicly about their beliefs.
“They are more brave [than previous generations],” said Muhammad Owais Aziz, the national co-ordinator of the Canadian Young Muslims program at the Islamic Circle of North America, an organization that connects Muslims across North America.
“They are more open to say who they are and what they are.”
Aziz supports Muslim youth across Canada, some of whom eagerly study Islam so they can differentiate between Islamic teaching and cultural tradition.
“If they are adhering to Islam, they are doing their own research,” he said. “They are not just following it as a tradition. They’re following it based on their own judgment, their own studies, their own research.”
Visser, at Alpha Canada, says many Canadian youth are exploring spirituality in general, and not just one specific religion.
“Christianity might be experiencing an increased interest from young people, but so are lots of other spiritual practices,” said Visser, pointing to a recent study from Alpha Canada that said 20 per cent of Canadian teenagers practise astrology or manifesting.
Does it last
Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme, at the University of Waterloo, says previous generations of teenagers and young adults have also reported higher religiosity than their parents’ and grandparents’ generations.
Their religious fervour typically does not last, she says.
According to the Angus Reid poll, only 18 per cent of 35- to 44-year-olds were religiously committed. For all older age groups, it was 16 per cent.
Most religiously committed teenagers and young adults are first or second-generation immigrants, Wilkins-Laflamme says.
And youthful religious devotion often ends when people leave their parents’ home.
“Most of the people who do change are going towards nonreligion,” she said.
Historic trends can change, she added. But she plans to“wait and see” before declaring that younger Canadians’ interest in religion is long-lasting.
Coyle, at the diocese of London, says she is seeing a level of religious interest among teenagers and young adults that she has not seen before.
But she acknowledges she may not know the depth of their religious commitment until later — if they marry in the Church or later baptize their children.
For now, though, she hopes the religious renewal is genuine.
“I think there is something happening,” Coyle said. “I don’t know if it’s a revival, but I feel there’s something happening.”
My faith has helped me throughout my life. I really hope the young people hold on to their faith. I feel that I have been blessed to have my belief and helped in my life. I am a senior.