Tomorrow: why Gen Z women are "flocking" to convents for summer vacation

You may have seen Vice’s article, “Gen Z Women Are Booking Convents Instead of Beach Houses This Summer.” When I saw and read it, I thought, of course. This isn’t all that shocking; it’s even in line with all the conversions we’ve been seeing lately. But the question is, why?

Well, imagine the culture for young women right now. The noise and confusion around beauty standards and a woman’s worth, digital overload, loneliness and lack of relationships, meaningless online interactions, iffy job prospects in the face of the AI takeover, difficulty in finding a life partner, and so on. Even if you subtract out all the cultural noise, the digital fatigue itself is enough to drive someone to seek out a silent vacation.

So I will be discussing this tomorrow morning on Morning Air at 8:20 am eastern. Find your way to listen here (I recommend just opening up the livestream player).

One other thing I want to talk about, though, and I hope it makes its way into the conversation, is what this means as a broader evangelization opportunity. Food and good conversation are great evangelizers. What can we do to make our own homes and lives attractive to those who are seeking? Meaning, how to welcome people into a Catholic home, or a Catholic friendship? Not for the purpose of converting someone to Catholicism, which would be manipulative, but to demonstrate that indeed there is more to life, that there is peace, friendship, fun to be had yet in this life. That life has meaning, and that each life has purpose.

Tune in to discuss!