In my parish alone we have 6 young men/boys planning on entering formation for the priesthood...A parish that has NEVER produced a priest in the past. At Mass today we had 7 alter boys serving, we have 5 Sunday Masses. Prior to 6 months ago we struggled to get one server per Mass. During Advent we normally have 1 priest hearing Confessions 30 to 40 minutes a day. This Advent we needed 2 priests hearing Confessions for 2 hours every day. Mass attendance here is eclipsing pre-Covid levels. The church is full at every Mass. "Some time after Carlo Acutis died, his mother Antonia said that she had a dream about her son. In the dream, St. Francis of Assisi said to her, "Your son, now occupies one of the highest places in Heaven and after he is beatified, there will be a new generation of Saints thanks to him." Then, she dreamed of her son, Carlo. Carlo said to her, "Mother, I will be beatified and a little later, I will be canonized as a Saint." He was canonized on September 7 2026 https://media.benedictine.edu/the-rise-in-christianity-and-catholicism-is-now-undeniable And the fervor and piety is noticeably increasing. 10 years ago I was 1 of perhaps 5 people at Mass that would receive on the tongue ...Now it is more like 50. And growing numbers are staying after Mass to pray.
Our old Parish Priest is 90 years old. I admire him so much but he wears no clerical clothes at all and is very much a priest of the Vatican 2 Spirit generation. However at the moment he is joined by a very young seminarian/Deacon. This young guy wears a full clerical cassock all the time. He takes communion kneeling on the tongue kneeling and is very reverent. I usually get to mass good and early to pray and the other day he turned up to pray too. He does not stand gossiping and talking in Church in front of the Blessed Sacrament as is common place. But I do notice that this young man gets on like a house on fire with the old priest. There seems to be no conflict as might be expected. I see a huge sign of hope in this young man.
