A Culture of Invitation: Study Ranks Diocese of Tulsa Among National Leaders in Conversions
BROKEN ARROW — A recent analysis conducted by research writer J.J. Ziegler for
The Catholic World Report ranked the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma No. 5 among the 10% of dioceses in the United States that are "proportionally richest in conversions and other non-infant receptions into the Church."
According to data published in the 2024 edition of
The Official Catholic Directory, 619,775 people entered the Catholic Church in the Latin-rite dioceses of the U.S. during the previous year. The
Directory classified 480,905 (77.6%) of them as infant baptisms, 58,628 (9.5%) as the baptisms of minors who are not infants, 29,752 (4.8%) as adult baptisms, and 50,490 (8.1%) as receptions into full communion.
In a Sept. 12, 2025, special report, Conversions and Receptions into the Church: A Look at the Numbers, Ziegler's research placed Tulsa at No. 5 nationally for the highest proportion of conversions into the Church with one out of every 134 Catholics.
"In this article, I examine the other categories: the 58,628 non-infant minors and 29,752 adults who were baptized, and the 50,490 baptized non-Catholic Christians, whether adults or minors, who were received into full communion," stated Ziegler in explaining his methodology. "These converts to the faith, and children of converts and reverts to the faith, were often influenced by a priest or parishioner with a missionary spirit."
Responding to the data findings, Bishop David Konderla linked the diocese’s success in attracting conversions and other non-infant receptions into the Church to a “culture of invitation."
“I think that many of our parishes have created a culture of invitation,” Bishop Konderla is quoted in the story. “They use everything from social media to physical banners in front of the church, to forming people to make personal invitations to friends, family members, and others to come visit the parish or attend some function,” and “in that way to explore the faith.”
Bishop Konderla also speculated that there may be a correlation between a desire for a more traditional and rural lifestyle and "choosing to live, or continue to live, in smaller, less populated places."
The article also extensively quotes Father Brian O’Brien, rector of Tulsa’s Holy Family Cathedral, and Sarah Jameson, Director of Parish Support for the Diocese of Tulsa. The entire article can be read
here.