St. Augustine, a notable early Christian thinker, described spiritual restlessness and the yearning for unity as fundamental to the human experience. 

In that spirit, a wave of young Americans is searching for deeper meaning and fulfillment, turning to the Catholic Church to nourish their spiritual lives. This movement is particularly evident among students at the University of California, Santa Barbara, a secular school.  

In a region known for beaches, Spanish heritage and wine, St. Mark’s University Parish has seen notable growth, with students making up 90% of new members. Many are pursuing master’s degrees and PhDs. Their exuberance for their faith reflects a vibrant reclamation within the academic community. 

Br. Ryan Thornton, OFM, western regional vocations director for the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe, is an OCIA instructor at St. Mark’s in Isla Vista, California, near Santa Barbara. The power behind this trend, he says, is both complex and simple. 

“It is God’s grace and the relevance of the Gospel as much as ever,” Br. Ryan said. 

OCIA seeing burgeoning numbers 

Growth at St. Mark’s, powered by campus ministry, reflects a wider trend.  

In the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which includes St. Mark’s, 5,500 new members joined at Easter 2025 – the most growth in 10 years. That includes 2,800 baptized with no previous Christian affiliation.  

Sarah Torres is the director of religious education and pastoral assistant at St. Mark’s. She said the church’s Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA) program, a process to start people on their spiritual journey in the Catholic Church, is thriving at record rates. 

The class of 2025, the largest since the church’s founding in 1966, is on pace to be surpassed in 2026. She feels the parish program – a one-year journey that coincides with the UCSB school calendar – is ideal for college students. 

So too, she says, is its instructor, Br. Ryan, an experienced academic theologian and teacher for high school and university students. 

“His background – experience working with college students, as well as his theological formation – provides the perfect breeding ground for those who seek to learn more about the Catholic faith, whether they have practiced it for years, are just coming back, or are starting from scratch,” she said. “St. Mark's is a place where questions are welcomed and ideas can be challenged, and this is evident in our OCIA program.” 

Participants in courses – and community 

Br. Ryan noticed that university students are joining not for marriage, as they might have in the past, but out of a sincere wish for meaning and spiritual growth – in an academic environment that can be, at best, indifferent to religion, and, at worst, antagonistic to it.  

“What they’re hearing (in school) doesn’t make sense with their experience in a life of faith,” Br. Ryan said. "What they want is inherent to Catholics, to our constitution, inherent to every human being. That desire for more is a desire for God.” 

St. Mark’s has created tracks for those who need baptism, communion and confirmation, and those who need only confirmation. The latter class is being called upon to participate in ministry. 

“Our courses engage with the community at large,” Br. Ryan said. “We want them to understand that this is not just a class, it is a springboard to a life lived in community.” 

Sarah said St. Mark’s provides bible study, sacraments and faith development for both parishioners and college students, like Newman Centers at universities. 

‘Courses as a calling’ 

Alexa Chagoya, a second-year sociology major at UCSB, joined OCIA at St. Mark’s for confirmation and felt relief from collegiate pressures through community events like beach retreats, candlelight Masses and rosaries, which sustained her faith journey.  

“There is so much you can do to deepen your faith,” she said. “Fr. Ryan's teaching helped me to prepare. He emphasized ... the courses served as a calling, even if you simply wanted to learn about the faith but were uncertain about joining the Church.” 

The Church should evaluate young people's engagement, needs and growth potential, Br. Ryan believes. 

“Do we remain only in shrine churches in cities of the past, or do we go with the church of the people? The gospel is new; it is enlivening. It is different. People are coming in with an existential question. It’s not seeking to make sense of one teaching. It’s in response to the idea that ‘I don’t know how to make sense of life. This thing that is the Catholic church and faith is speaking to me.’”