A new generation of Tulsans is converting to Catholicism. More than 600 Catholics will be welcomed into the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma at Easter Vigil services Saturday night — a 46% increase from last year.
“When you see growth in your community, it’s not really about the numbers,” said Gary Kastl, vicar general for the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma. “It’s a healthy indicator that parishes are healthy and doing what they are supposed to do, which is evangelize and help people come to know who Jesus is.”
“Becoming Catholic,” also known as the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, requires a months-long process to complete conversion. Tulsa is matching a national trend, as dioceses around the country are reporting higher numbers of converts this year.
In downtown Tulsa, Holy Family Cathedral has 94 new converts, according to its rector Brian O’Brien. The church had 90 last year and 55 the year before. They will receive three sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation and/or Holy Communion, depending on their faith history. This differs from the roughly 40 children who will receive their first Holy Communion in May.
Holy Family Cathedral has doubled in size over the past five years, O’Brien said. Both he and Kastl think their congregations are getting younger too. That differs from national trends, which show the Catholic population growing older. Converts, specifically, tend to be older, according to 2025 findings from the Pew Research Center.
David Stibbs, 26, and Abigail Stibbs, 24, are in this year’s cohort of converts at Holy Family Cathedral. The couple found a new wholeness in the Catholic church they say they couldn’t find before. Both see young people joining churches in larger numbers.
“The narrative that young people don’t go to churches, it’s the complete opposite,” David Stibbs said. “We’re longing for something that’s old and ancient, that’s stood the test of time.”
More than before, people can turn to so many platforms for knowledge about faith, O’Brien said. Whether it be podcasts, YouTube, books or other independent research, people are coming to church with some previous knowledge.
That was the case for the Stibbs. They met at Oral Roberts University and would have in-depth conversations about the Bible and church. They got married shortly after graduation but didn’t feel like their faith was solidified.
O’Brien thinks the rise in converts could be a post-pandemic phenomenon as people searched for answers to questions about mortality. At Holy Family Cathedral, the Stibbs say they found a community they hadn’t experienced before — a “fullness of the Christian faith,” David Stibbs said.
“You can have all of these teachings and principles and beliefs and all those values, but if you don’t have any community and you don’t have people to kind of link arms and bring that to life, then I think we missed the whole importance of faith and religion,” Abigail Stibbs said.
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