Religious Revival: Young Men Turn to Faith
BY MATTHEW CONNELL & JOHN LECHTENBERG
“In a First Among Christians, Young Men Are More Religious Than Young Women” read the New York Times headline on September 23, 2024. The article explored the unprecedented, at least in modern history, trend of younger men identifying as religious in greater numbers than young women. The shift, occurring across the United States, was identified in a large survey conducted by the American Enterprise Institute.
And it wasn’t a fluke.
In February this year, the Pew Research Center released findings from a massive study of over 35,000 American adults conducted from 2023 to 2024. The results? The traditionally large gap between male and female religious practice has shrunk or reversed in significant ways as many young men return to practice of faith.
One need not look far to find the men behind the trend.
Outlaws
In North Kansas City, amidst a bevy of industrial warehouses and within a stone’s throw of the train tracks, stands Outlaw Cigar & Brewery. The 13,000 square foot cigar shop, which boasts over 150 bourbons and whiskeys and a walk-in humidor, might not be the first place that comes to mind for a faith-based meet up. But for City on a Hill’s Band of Brothers apostolate, it was the perfect environment for meaningful conversation about living the faith amidst the modern world.
On a brisk Thursday night in April, over 40 young adult men gathered there to hear Father Justin Hamilton, the millennial pastor of Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Overland Park, Kansas, discuss such a topic over cigars and whiskey. Hamilton shared a reflection on the importance of friendship as an antidote to the lies of the enemy, drawing on the witness of the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste. These 40 Roman soldiers, he explained, were martyred by Roman Emperor Valerius Licinianus Licinius in the year 320 A.D. for refusing to sacrifice to false idols. Commanded to strip naked and go out on a frozen lake, these men stood together until their deaths.
Despite occurring over 1,700 years ago, their brave communal witness contained numerous lessons for the men gathered, Hamilton explained, such as the value of challenging oneself and others, vulnerability, and shared purpose. In contrast to human temptations toward prideful self-reliance and pleasure-seeking, often celebrated in modern culture, the discipline and fortitude of these martyrs can inspire men to this day to live for something greater.
It was a message that resonated with many of the men present, including three converts to the Catholic faith who, emblematic of broader cultural trends, shared their unique stories.
New Atheism to New Life
Ryan Ault is no stranger to sacrifice for a noble cause. The Iraq war veteran, now a facility manager for a large distribution center in Platte City, grew up in a military family which moved regularly in his childhood. As he put it, he grew up “Army Protestant,” but by high school, he fell away from the faith of his younger years, swayed by the arguments of prominent atheist figures like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris. This was the beginning of a 10-year period without faith, which he described as a “darker chapter” of his life.
During this period, he attended a military academy where he befriended another young man who in time would change his life. Weston Lee, Ault shared, was a “good old boy, Southern farm kid, and he was a very strong believer.” After their four years of training, in a stroke of providence, they were stationed together in the same unit in the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, something Ault explained “doesn’t happen.”
A few years later, their unit was deployed to Iraq where they were tasked with liberating the city of Mosul, Iraq from ISIS. Perhaps surprisingly, this was where Ault’s faith in God re-emerged. Confronted by the evils of ISIS and disconnected from the noise of the modern world, he began seriously grappling with the concept of objective truth. At the same time, he became increasingly drawn to the witness of Lee, who after being under mortar and artillery attacks, displayed seemingly unexplainable calm and joy.
Ault shared, “I remember saying to him, ‘Dude, I’ve known you for eight years. I know you’re not crazy, and I know you’re not stupid. So how can you be happy right now?’ And he was like, ‘Dude, I’ve been trying to tell you for eight years, I know Jesus.’”
This was a turning point for Ault, who was met with literal leaps of joy from Lee when he later shared that he wanted to become Christian again. Two days after the joy-filled announcement, Lee was tragically killed by an IED while out on a mission, leaving a tremendous impact on Ault.
“His death became a catalyst for me to actually just become on fire with, you know, wanting to learn more about the faith,” he reflected.
In the wake of Lee’s death, Ault’s job was to drive supply platoons all around northern Iraq, and in yet another stroke of providence, he met Father McHuskey, an Army priest who was in need of rides in order to minister to units throughout the region. For 10 months, the two drove countless hours together, a time in which Ault would pepper McHuskey with questions about God, Catholicism, and Christianity as a whole.
At the end of the deployment and upon his return to America, Ault continued exploring, attending services of various denominations. One thing in particular, however, stood out about the Catholic Mass.
“Mass was the only place where I saw people on their knees, which, to me, that visual act really signified the seriousness of this, right? You know, coming from the army, if a general walks by, I’d snap to attention and salute. And so how much greater would I react if I saw the Creator of the Universe, right?”
This brought Ault to finally become Catholic in a Mass at Fort Hood in Texas in 2018. Now, he lives in Smithville, Missouri with his wife Rosie, who he met in the military.
Ault reflected on discovering City on a Hill, saying, “Moving to Kansas City, I didn’t know anybody, and leaving the military, I was really struggling… Somehow, I found out about City on a Hill, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s awesome, That’s a great way for my wife and I to start meeting people who are at least aligned on values and are local.’”
Jumping right in, they led the 2024 Adventure Trip to the Ozarks together, and he has additionally been involved in Band of Brothers where he has been able to fuel his passion for mentoring other men in light of his life experience and the transformation Christ has brought to his life.
“Her name is Katie.”
Brandon Watts, a first-year student at UMKC’s dental school, was another in attendance with a story of radical conversion. Having grown up attending a mainline Protestant church with his grandparents, he over time replaced church with extracurriculars and sports. Later down the road, he would veer toward anti-Christian sentiment.
“At one point, I started to explore and fall into the New Atheist movement of the, ‘Oh, Christianity isn’t rational’, and, you know, ‘they’re just stories’ and this and that... I really never regarded my soul.”
With a deep skepticism of many of the claims of scripture, Watts cast off any tie to faith in his life. Then, four and a half years ago, while working at a hospital in Springfield, Missouri, something changed. Asked about the turning point, Watts shared, “Her name is Katie.”
He explained how his coworker-turned-girlfriend, who he asked out after their shift working at the hospital, exposed him to the Catholic faith in a way that shattered many of his preconceived notions. Through her persistent invitations to Mass and patient responses to his many questions, his receptivity to God and the Catholic faith grew with time.
Watts reflected, “She would say, ‘Obviously, I want you to be Catholic, but I don’t want you to be Catholic because I’m Catholic. [...] I love you, I care about you, I care for your soul, and I want you to explore this and to be Catholic because it’s the best thing for you.’”
Three years into their relationship, Watts took a major step in exploration, joining OCIA at St. George Catholic Church in Republic, Missouri, where Katie and her family attended. In September of 2024, at the completion of his classes, he was baptised and confirmed there into the Church. He chose St. Thomas the Apostle as his confirmation saint, feeling a deep connection to the “doubting” disciple.
Remarking on how his life has changed since his conversion, Watts said, “I was a different person before I seriously explored the faith… I had different beliefs, I had different values, and I’m dying to that old self, that old me, and I’m… living a new life in Christ.”
Since moving to Kansas City in the fall for school and beginning long distance with Katie, Watts has found a supportive community through City on a Hill. He shared, “It’s very empowering… to be amongst other men that are really, really living the faith… With every person I’ve met at all City on a Hill events… it’s really helped me understand, as a new Catholic… what living a Christian life as a lay person looks like.”
And in a show of humility, he added, “I’ve got a lot of ways to go, but yeah, I’m choosing this life and I’m very happy that I have, and I’m happy that I choose it every day.”
Collegiate Conversion
Jackson Jobe, also new to Kansas City, grew up in a very faithful Protestant household.
“Every Sunday it was church and extra stuff, like Sunday school, youth group, Bible quiz, everything like that.”
A recent Kansas State University (KSU) grad and tech consultant, Jobe explained how he never stopped believing in God, but felt no call toward the type of church services he had been attending as a child. By freshman year of college, he stopped going altogether. During his sophomore year, however, realizing his foundational beliefs about God still held firm, he began to explore different denominations. One day, a friend who was also exploring invited him to attend St. Isidore’s Catholic Church on KSU’s campus.
Jobe recounted, “I joined him, and immediately, I was struck by the tradition and the beauty of it, and that kind of led me down a rabbit hole of exploring the faith.”
In time, Jobe and his friend found out about OCIA classes taking place at the parish every week. They both joined in December, requiring extra one-on-one sessions with the parish priest to catch up on the material they had already missed. By late spring, they both completed the preparation process and were confirmed Catholic together at the Easter Vigil. Over the next two years, Jobe would sponsor two other men as they joined the Church as well.
Since that period, Jobe says he has experienced “complete change” in his life.
“It’s now a daily part of my life. And the depth of the faith really helps in that. There’s so many different avenues to explore and areas to improve. I think the biggest inspiration is just trying to imitate Jesus in the Gospels and trying to mold myself to that impossible standard.”
Aided in that mission by the City on a Hill community, Jobe shared, “Being able to have a group that’s centered around the faith is so helpful, because that’s the most important area in everyone’s life here... I’ve been able to meet a ton of great people that have already had a good influence on my life, and it’s been eight months.”
Resurrection
If the data is true, Ault, Watts, and Jobe represent just a sliver of a broader movement of conversions happening across the United States. Drawn in by the love of God, they serve as a reminder that behind every trend is an individual soul, known and loved by Him. And like the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste, unified until the very end for Christ, they exemplify a great hope in the resurrection of Jesus Christ which is taking root in the hearts of young men across the country and in our own City on a Hill community every day.
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