The Catholic Message Board

According to the USCCB these are the numbers for the top diocese new Catholics this past Easter. Doesn't seem to be in any particular order.
Brooklyn had 1200, but NY next door didn't even make the list. I didn't add them all up.

Mobile archdiocese – 603
Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau -200
Diocese of Phoenix – 1600
Diocese Tucson -530
Los Angeles- 8598
Youngstown 300
San Francisco - 700
Duluth 186
Atlanta – 3442
Washington 1755
Lansing – 940
Oklahoma- 1100
Tulsa – 1000
Cleveland – 1000
Orlando -900
Venice – 1072
St Augustine – 1263
Newark – 1701
Kansas City 733
Fort Wayne 787
San Diego- 1846
Fort Worth 1550
St Louis – 1000
Richmond- 900
Wichita – 600
Portland – 1600
Nashville -872
Brooklyn – 1200
Cincinatti – 1096
Chicago -1000
Dallas – 2500
Galveston – 3000
Baltomore – 1200
Omaha – 700
Philadelphia -1100
New Orleans – 700
Detroit – 1400
Denver – 770
Shreveport- 257
Duluth – 186
Madison – 360
Green Bay – 175
Milwaukee – 270

For Wisconsin:

Green Bay diocese is quite a bit smaller than Milwaukee, but they had more confirmations.
Madison had even more, though the more populated areas are pretty liberal.

Very interesting.

Edit:
Whoops... I read that wrong.

Does the site allow you to search for Confirmations/Baptisms for previous years?

Here it is sorted:

Los Angeles- 8598
Atlanta – 3442
Galveston – 3000
Dallas – 2500
San Diego- 1846
Washington 1755
Newark – 1701
Diocese of Phoenix – 1600
Portland – 1600
Fort Worth 1550
Detroit – 1400
St Augustine – 1263
Brooklyn – 1200
Baltomore – 1200
Oklahoma- 1100
Philadelphia -1100
Cincinatti – 1096
Venice – 1072
Tulsa – 1000
Cleveland – 1000
St Louis – 1000
Chicago -1000
Lansing – 940
Orlando -900
Richmond- 900
Nashville -872
Fort Wayne 787
Denver – 770
Kansas City 733
San Francisco - 700
Omaha – 700
New Orleans – 700
Mobile archdiocese – 603
Wichita – 600
Diocese Tucson -530
Madison – 360
Youngstown 300
Milwaukee – 270
Shreveport- 257
Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau -200
Duluth 186
Duluth – 186
Green Bay – 175

But that can't be right. The Newman Center at the University of Illinois had well over 100 on its own, and there were large numbers over the rest of the Peoria diocese as well. Maybe we didn't report.

Milwaukee’s numbers seem low from what people involved with administration told me just regarding two churches in one parish. Those two comprising the 58 Easter confirmations only (not including the baptisms)

Obi-Wan Kenobi wrote: ↑Sun Apr 12, 2026 6:58 pm But that can't be right. The Newman Center at the University of Illinois had well over 100 on its own, and there were large numbers over the rest of the Peoria diocese as well. Maybe we didn't report.

That's what I was thinking. Did some not bother to report?

The answer to that is above my pay grade

Also above my pay grade is the reason that Duluth was listed twice.

Yesterday, a post by a Reformed pastor appeared in my Facebook feed in which he claimed that every year after the Easter Vigil, "hundreds" of newly confirmed Catholics come to his church to complain that they are a victim of a "bait and switch" after they find out what the Catholic Church is really like.

I was going to respond that he seems to be under the impression that the Catholic Church is like many evangelical churches in that they immediately baptize everyone who asks, just to count numbers.

In fact, the process to become Catholic is rather lengthy, precisely to make certain that people know what they are getting into. OCIA lasts close to a year, and during OCIA, they attend Mass, and some may go through OCIA more than once before deciding to be confirmed, while others may attend Mass and sit on the fence about whether to formally join for months or even years before deciding to go through OCIA, so the "bait and switch" claim is not very credible.

But...what do you know, looking through the comments, almost every comment in the thread was by a Catholic calling him a liar, and he blocked all further comments.

Making a claim and then, when he gets pushback, blocking all comments is not exactly a sign of an honest person.

Where does he find these hundreds of new Catholics?

If my info is correct, there are 177 Latin jurisdictions in the US. 32 Archdioceses, 144 Dioceses, 1 Personal Ordinariate. Clearly, that number are not reporting.

How would on go about getting an "accurate" count?

Divination, but that's sinful

We had just over 800 in our Diocese (Little Rock)....we must not have reported either.

Highlander wrote: ↑Sun Apr 12, 2026 10:25 pm How would one go about getting an "accurate" count?

AFAIK, there's no official place where every diocese must report. You could could diocesan FB pages and such, but that won't get them all either.

So we have more than we know. Not a bad place to be.

Highlander wrote: ↑Sun Apr 12, 2026 10:25 pm
How would on go about getting an "accurate" count?

It is pretty close to impossible. Dioceses don't have to report anything to anyone. The bishop is the ordinary minister of confirmation, but not all dioceses require all converts to go to the cathedral for the Easter vigil. The bishop usually allows local parish priests to administer confirmation on such days because he can't be everywhere, and parishes don't have to report numbers to the diocese.

The bishop doesn't have to give permission, except for those baptized as Catholics who never completed their sacraments of initiation:

Can. 883 The following possess the faculty of administering confirmation by the law itself:

...

2/ as regards the person in question, the presbyter who by virtue of office or mandate of the diocesan bishop baptizes one who is no longer an infant or admits one already baptized into the full communion of the Catholic Church;

There are always a certain number of people every year who have been Catholic all their lives, but for whatever reason, were never enrolled in CCD in their youth, who seek confirmation as an adult.

Yup. And I have to request a mandate from the diocese to confirm them.