Faith Is Thriving on Campus (And the Scorecard Is Helping Us See It)

There is a story in the zeitgeist about young adults and faith. Culture wants us to believe that faith is fading, that commitment is fragile, and that college is where students quietly drift away from the Church.

Most of us who serve in ministry know it isn’t that simple. Still, when the days feel long and the work feels unseen, it’s easy to wonder if what we’re pouring out is really taking root.

But the National Campus Ministry Scorecard tells a very different story.

Across 145 campus ministries in 96 dioceses, the Fall 2025 data says something brave and deeply hopeful: faith is not fading on campus. It is forming. It is strengthening. It is chosen again and again by students learning to trust God and themselves.

In chapels and coffee shops, dorm rooms and dining halls, students are showing up. They’re receptive. They’re praying. They’re serving. They’re discerning. They’re building community. Through campus ministry, they’re encountering a Church that feels close, real, and present in their everyday lives.

That doesn’t happen by accident.
That is the fruit of campus ministry.

Gen Z is often described as distant or disconnected from faith. What we’re actually seeing is a generation that is deeply hungry for meaning. They’re not looking for perfect programs or all the answers. They’re looking for people who will walk with them while they ask honest questions about identity, purpose, and belonging.

The Scorecard confirms what campus ministers already know: students are looking for a place to belong, and when they are invited intentionally, they show up.

This fall, 7,468 freshmen who participated in Newman Connection’s Faith Forward movement were personally contacted by their college campus ministry. Someone noticed their name. Someone took the time to reach out during one of the most vulnerable transitions of their life.

1,429 of those students are now active in campus ministry.

That means one in five students found a spiritual home because someone chose to reach first.

That’s remarkable. And it’s a living example of accompaniment. Research tells us that the people students meet in their first days on campus often become their community for years to come. Meaningful freshman outreach doesn’t just shape a semester. It shapes a faith journey.

439,732 students attended Sunday Mass during the Fall 2025 semester. Nearly half a million encounters with Christ in the Eucharist. In a world that constantly questions whether young people still care about worship, this speaks clearly: they do! Students are choosing reverence in a culture built on distraction.

They spent 16,526 hours in Adoration. Thousands of moments in the quiet presence of the Lord. Moments where hearts softened. Where questions were brought without having to be answered immediately. Where peace and consolation were found in ways the world simply can’t offer.

Students served others for 10,129 hours. They lived the Gospel in tangible ways. They carried faith into food pantries, tutoring programs, shelters, and into small acts of love for one another. This is a generation learning early that faith is something you live, not just something you believe.

Formation is flourishing too.

When you really sit with these numbers, what stands out isn’t how big they are, but what they say about the choices students are making.

Almost 16,000 students said yes to small groups. They said yes to being known. To building real relationships. To letting faith be shared instead of private.

More than 2,000 students stepped into OCIA or sacramental preparation. These students are saying, “I want to know what I believe and why. I want a faith that’s rooted, not borrowed. I want to make this my own.”

And 618 students are actively discerning priesthood or consecrated life. These are young people willing to ask one of the most sacred questions of their lives: What is God calling me to?

What moves me most is that this story isn’t coming from one kind of campus ministry or one model that “worked.” It’s coming from 145 ministries across 96 dioceses. Some serve dozens of students. Some serve thousands. All of them are holding sacred space for faith to grow.

Faith Forward isn’t meant to be something extra to add to your to-do list. It’s simply naming what campus ministry has always done best: reaching first, noticing early, and reminding students that the Church is still walking with them during one of the most important transitions of their lives.

College sends loud messages:
Handle it on your own.
Be independent.
Don’t need anyone.

Faith Forward pushes back and says something more beautiful and more true:
You don’t have to do this alone.
The Church has a place for you.
We want to meet you here.

Every time a student walks into Mass, joins a small group, sits in Adoration, or responds to an invitation, the same quiet message is being sent: the Church believes in you, and you matter here.

And this is the part that matters most. You are shaping the future of the Church in the way you show up for students. In conversations that don’t feel dramatic. In invitations that feel ordinary. In prayers that feel unfinished.

A Call to Keep Going Together

Our mission is simple and bold: to help students stay connected to the Church during one of the most defining seasons of their lives.

So keep leaning in.
Keep reaching students early through Newman Connection.
Keep participating in the National Campus Ministry Scorecard.
Keep sharing your ministry’s story.

Because the Church needs this story.

When you participate in Faith Forward and the National Campus Ministry Scorecard, you’re helping make visible what is often hidden: that campus ministry is changing lives, that students are hungry for faith, and that your faithful presence is shaping the future of the Church.

The work you are doing is sacred and holy, and making a difference!