Holy Name Cathedral holds overflow Masses for Easter Sunday as Catholic church sees resurgence

Thousands of people attended Easter Mass at Holy Name Cathedral as the Archdiocese of Chicago sees a resurgence of people converting to catholicism.

There were so many people that they had to move to an overflow space.

One of the priests said they had two overflow Masses in the auditorium in the school next door. Those started 15 minutes after the Mass inside the church, but even those were packed to the brim, leaving people just standing in the back of the church, even outside.

As people packed every pew inside Holy Name Cathedral for Easter Mass on Sunday night, there were dozens of people left standing in the back. It's a sight Father Andy Matijevic rejoiced in.

"We had six Masses so far, last night and a few this morning, and all of them have been packed inside," he said.

"Our rector, Father Greg Sakowicz, has told us, 'just open all the doors,' just open everything, let them stand wherever, be out the door, and we brought communion to these people. We came back and brought communion to everybody," said Deb Kubes.

Father Matijevic said the last time he saw something like this was before he was ordained more than five years ago. It's a growth the Catholic church is seeing in numbers.

This weekend, Father Matijevic said 18 people were baptized at holy name, and another 23 were confirmed. The archdiocese said in total over 600 people were also welcomed into the Catholic church—a 38% increase from last year.

Overall, the archdiocese expects over 1,000 new members to join the church this year—a 52% increase from a year ago.

So why the big boost? For one, Father Matijevic said Pope Leo, the first American pope, and a Chicago native, is drawing crowds.

"I think a lot of people in Chicago are feeling that connection that he grew up in these streets, his mom was baptized here, his parents were married here," he said.

And the people coming, he said, are millennials and Gen Zs.

"You can tell the young people are here, not with their parents, but by themselves, young 20's, mid 20's, late 20's," he said.

Another reason for the growth, Father Matijevic said, is that there's a lot of darkness with the war in the Middle East and uncertain times. That is leading people to lean on their faith for meaning and purpose.