US Catholic churches see a record number of conversions: ‘It’s a real shift’

‘I feel like it’s a dark time for a lot of people in the world, and I think that naturally is going to get people who reach for the light.’ Photograph: Maggie Shannon

Alicia Martinez pulls on an oversized, chocolate-brown leather jacket – an incongruous choice for the July heat in Los Angeles. Later that day, she plans to see The Odyssey in a frigid theater. But first, there is mass.

Martinez, 24, enters Our Savior Parish, the castle-like church beside her workplace, the University of Southern California. Inside, she dips her fingers in holy water, makes the sign of the cross on her forehead, and enters the main part of the church in hushed reverence.