"The pandemic brought a huge faith boost for many"

This seems to be the case in our little parish in Croton, Holy Name of Mary. The article is on the website Aleteia, a Catholic spirituality site. It's a short article if you hit the link.

Pew Research reported in January that in America “Nearly 3 in 10 U.S. adults say the outbreak has boosted their faith,” and “about 4 in 10 say it has tightened family bonds.” This certainly happened to me. I felt gripped by God’s love and compelled to do more with my time and go deeper in my faith after both my own coronavirus infection and witnessing the incredible power of prayer at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.

In my case this led to a rediscovery of Scripture, through Bishop Robert Barron and Father Mike Schmitz. One mom told me the same thing happened to her.

“Bishop Robert Barron has played a huge role for me too,” said Alexa Paul, in the Washington, D.C., area. She also “read a chapter of St. Paul’s letters every day with one of my sisters and we reflected on it together” through video chat.

You know this is from the Holy Spirit because a huge number of people rediscovered Scripture during the pandemic.

“Right now I’m doing Fr. Mike’s Bible in a Year podcast as well,” she said. “All these Old Testament readings are kind of killing me, but I’ve never read the entire Bible. There’s also a different experience to hearing it every day rather than just reading it.”

The author, Tom Hoopes, is writer in residence at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, and author most recently of The Rosary of Saint John Paul II.