Young men are bucking the seemingly relentless trend of religious disaffiliation in North America and Catholic evangelists are stepping up to meet them.

In every generation group bar one, more men than women describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated. According to a 2024 American Enterprise Institute survey, Gen Z men, born between approximately 1996 and 2010, are the exception. Whereas nearly 40 percent of Gen Z women call themselves religiously unaffiliated, only 34 percent of Gen Z men do so. 

Catholic lay evangelist Patrick Sullivan says, “young men, like never before, are leaning into the faith. They're just like young guys trying to lift the weights off the bench at the gym.”

Sullivan, a father of nine, author and speaker, will be leading a men’s retreat in Montreal on Mar. 15 entitled “Why Men Need to Evangelize.”

In an interview with The Catholic Register in advance of the event, Sullivan said there is a problem with the message Gen Z men are receiving on social media, and in podcasts and retreats.

“The problem is that the language out there is centered primarily on defending the faith. When you're out defending something, you can't help it but look at other people as a threat.”

Sullivan says that, while important, the defense of the faith is not the first task of the Catholic faithful. Rather, “the mission is to go out and find the lost.”

“We need to start changing the language with our young men especially. I want them to take that zeal and strength and turn it to the primary mission. You want truth, goodness, beauty? Awesome. But you must go out and find the lost sheep. This is a rescue mission.”

Corey Jolly is a lay evangelist in the Archdiocese of Montreal and organizer of the upcoming March retreat. For Jolly, there is a need for all men, regardless of age, to heed the call to evangelize.

“We really want to empower and inspire men to step up,” Jolly told the Register.

“In our local churches, there's so many men that are very much behind the scenes. They may go to church, but either they don’t get involved or they’re not out there as much as they need to be.”

For both Sullivan and Jolly it is critical to return to the first and primary mission of the Church: telling the Good News about Jesus Christ and his death and Resurrection.

“We're saying to the men of this retreat: No matter what you've been doing in your life, no matter how good or bad it is, where's the room for evangelization? Can you push it one step further up the priority list? Because when we speak the Good News, good things happen. That's the reality,” said Sullivan. 

Sullivan says that when speaking of what it means to be “fishers of men,” it is important to remember that for the apostles, fishing was a matter of life and death, not a hobby. 

“You needed to study, you needed to know where the fish were going. You needed to be there at the right time. We need to say to our young men, ‘Use all those tools, all the truth that you love. But go on the hunt for that lamb. Go on the hunt for the soul that really needs Christ.’”

“I want to see men whose first reaction is not to argue or get defensive, but to smile because they know they're about to give a gift that helps.” 

Jolly is hoping that the day-long retreat will give the men the needed motivation to apply the Gospel call to their lives.

“We want men to be much more boisterous about their faith, more intentional and be more convicted about sharing their faith with their families, friends, with coworkers and neighbors. The goal of the retreat is truly to empower, to inspire and to encourage these men, to come out with a bit of extra jump in their step and say, ‘I'm a Catholic man and I'm proud; this is who I am.”

Why Men Need to Evangelize, a retreat for men will be held at St. Willibrod’s Parish, Verdun, Quebec on March 15.