On November 4, 2025, Democrats didn’t just win Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City — they crushed them. In Virginia, Democrats swept the statewide offices in a clean blue trifecta: Abigail Spanberger as governor, Ghazala Hashmi as lieutenant governor, and Jay Jones as attorney general. New Jersey followed suit, with the gubernatorial race called for Democrat Mikie Sherrill shortly after polling closed. And in New York City, Muslim Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani won the mayoral race.

Mark Levin is disturbed by Republicans’ apathy. “We gotta fight like hell, every single time, in every election, at every level of government. That’s the bottom line!”

Virginia, he says, was once “a red southern state” until the “locusts” — “government bureaucrats” looking to evade blue-state taxes and regulations – moved in and “screwed up everything.”

“Now the state of Virginia — the Commonwealth — has the largest number of federal bureaucrats of any state in the country, even more than Maryland. Wow. Go figure,” says Levin. “Plus, on top of that, we’ve had years and years of illegal immigration and legal immigration without assimilation, particularly under the Democrats.”

Add to that the fact that “Republicans are depopulating the state” and Soros and CAIR funding install people like Hashmi — a Muslim progressive Democrat who is now teed up to be Virginia’s next governor — and it’s clear that the state is on a one-way track to destruction.

New Jersey is much the same, although it doesn’t have the red history of Virginia. Blue voters, despite the already crushing taxes and regulations, voted in the same Democrat machine with Sherrill, who Levin says will simply sit at a desk and use a rubber “YES” stamp on every radical blue bill that crosses her desk. She’s nothing more than “a placeholder,” he scoffs.

Levin calls out Republican pundits on television and radio who ignorantly believe they can use these recent Democrat victories, especially Zohran Mamdani’s in New York City, as red campaign fuel in the future.

“They’re organizing at the local level like we’ve never seen before,” he warns. ”They’ve got more billions flooding in like we’ve never seen before. They’re already twisting the minds of our youth in our colleges and universities.”

To those pushing the idea that these blue victories will only help Republicans in the midterms and the 2028 election, he says, “Are you out of your mind?! … Get out of the way and let the serious people deal with this!”

To hear more of Levin’s commentary, watch the clip above.

Want more from Mark Levin?

To enjoy more of “the Great One” — Mark Levin as you’ve never seen him before — subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Levintv, Mark levin, 2025 elections, Virginia, New jersey, New york city, Zohran mamdani, Abigail spanberger, Ghazala hashmi, Jay jones, Mikie sherrill, Blazetv, Blaze media 

It’s my favorite time of year. When it gets cold, I fuel up four or five of the dozens of antique kerosene lamps I own. I use these to heat and light my house in winter; the charm and warmth make the cold and dark more bearable.

In past columns I’ve tried to convince you to abandon new, low-quality appliances and buy old workhorses. This time I want to persuade you to go even lower-tech and give flame light a try. You want to gather around the lamp with good people. You’ll find yourself staring into the flame, noticing the warmth it radiates (literal and metaphorical).

My center drafts have saved me during electricity outages in winter, giving enough light to work by as well as heat.

No electric lamps will make you feel this way. Some are very beautiful, of course, and the most charming use the original Edison-style incandescent filament bulbs. But they’re almost gone.

Thanks to meddling safetyist government, we live under the ghastly glow of LEDs. Before that, it was compact fluorescents. And before that, it was the sickening, flickering off-green morgue illumination of the overhead fluorescent tube, the appropriate furnishing for the inhuman Brutalist aesthetic that has infected 90% of commercial office space in the U.S. since the 1960s.

We weren’t made to live this way or light this way. We did not evolve under unnatural artificial light stripped of whole swaths of the color spectrum, drained of infrared.

We evolved by the campfire. For most of human history, the communal fire was the only source of “artificial” illumination at night. Firelight is a first cousin to sunlight, the original illumination that gave rise to all life on earth.

I’m going to give you basic tips on buying and running lamps, from simple to more complex. There’s a kind of kerosene lamp for everyone.

Sensible safety

Use common sense. You’re working with fire, and larger lamps put out a lot of heat, so be mindful that there’s plenty of clearance between the top of the chimney and the ceiling.

Keep charged fire extinguishers (you should anyway).

Yes, of course it’s possible to tip over a lamp, but in practice, it rarely happens unless you’re careless. They’re weighted to be fairly stable.

People also ask if my cats knock over the lamps. The answer is no, but you must use your own judgment because you know your animals and the layout of your house. My cats love to sleep near them for warmth and will walk on a table to get to them. But they don’t bump them. Again, you must exercise your own judgment.

Shredder the cat dozes by a center-draft lamp. Josh Slocum

No, you’re not in danger of carbon monoxide poisoning. Do you have a gas cookstove? Did you ever worry that you would get carbon monoxide poisoning from having your gas cookstove running? If you’re not afraid of your gas stove giving you carbon monoxide poisoning, there’s no physics-based reason to fear it if the flame comes from a kerosene lamp instead.

Carbon monoxide results from incomplete combustion. No combustion is 100% complete, but these lamps are burning close to it. I have been running kerosene lamps for about 15 years. They’ve never even blipped my smoke or carbon monoxide detectors.

No, the lamps won’t “suck up all the oxygen.” Your house is not hermetically sealed. The air is changing over all the time, even with your windows closed. You’re not in a pressurized submarine hull.

But “fumes,” you say. Every time you burn your favorite scented candles, you’re doing the same thing at a small scale, but no one is afraid of “fumes.” I think “fumes” is just miasma theory of disease, like how people used to falsely believe that bad odors from graveyards could transmit sickness to the living.

The only “fumes” you’re going to get with a lamp using clean kerosene are a bit of kero smell on lighting and on extinguishing. If it bothers you, take the lamp outside to light and extinguish. Remember that your ancestors right here in America all lit their homes this way, rich or poor. People weren’t dying of “fumes” or “lack of oxygen.”

The right stuff

Burn only clear, undyed kerosene. Not “lamp oil.” Not “lamp fuel.” These lamps want one thing only: the specific chemical we call kerosene. It’s a petroleum distillate similar to (but much less stinky than) diesel. Kerosene is not explosive like gasoline; don’t fear an explosion.

If you’ve experienced stinky oil lamps, it’s almost certainly because someone was burning “lamp oil,” which is liquid paraffin wax. This stuff clogs up wicks, it burns half as brightly as kerosene, it can smoke, and it smells awful. Stick with clear kerosene labeled “K1” or “1K,” found in your hardware store, Tractor Supply, Walmart, and similar stores.

Level I: Flat-wick lamps

Let’s introduce you to lamps. I categorize as Level I, Level II, and Level III. We’re going to go from simplest and least expensive to more high-powered lamps. If you’re new to lamps, start with Level I, the flat-wick lamps.

Everyone knows these lamps. These are what come to mind when you hear the phrase “oil lamp.” You remember lamps just like this from “Little House on the Prairie” on television.

These are called flat-wick lamps because, you may have guessed, their wicks are flat. This is my “sewing lamp,” so called because it’s tall enough to sit on a table by you for handwork.

Josh Slocum

Consider a wall-mounted flat-wick lamp, too. These can fit in beautiful wrought-iron brackets. Mount them to a stud in the wall and enjoy the character they add to your room. Below is one of my Victorian wall-mount lamps with a mercury reflector.

Josh Slocum

Level II: Center-draft lamps

So-called “center-draft” lamps are my personal favorite, and I recommend that you get at least one of them. They draw air from a central tube in the middle of the burner. Unlike flat-wick lamps, center-draft lamps have a round wick. They’re larger than most flat-wick lamps, so they put out about three times the light and heat of a basic lamp.

One center-draft lamp is enough to heat a medium-sized room, and you can cook over it in a pinch by rigging up a trivet. My center-draft lamps have saved me during electricity outages in winter, giving enough light to work by as well as heat. They’re essential equipment for anyone who is into prepping for emergencies. Plastic electronic LED lights with fancy solar panels can’t hold a candle to the rugged practicality and versatility of these.

Here’s my favorite, the “New Juno” model, made from 1886 to about 1915.

Josh Slocum

Any center-draft lamp is a good buy as long as it has all the parts necessary for operation (be sure it has a flame spreader). At the end of this article, I’ll link to businesses that specialize in advice and replacement parts. Do a little bit of reading, and you’ll learn everything you need to know before you buy.

Level III: The magical Aladdin lamp

Technology becomes as fun as it will ever get when one tech is declining as another rises. The old tech has to compete with the new, so the old tech gets refined to its highest potential just before it becomes obsolete.

That’s the Aladdin lamp. “Aladdin” is a brand name, not a generic type. These lamps are the zenith of kerosene technology that was competing with new electric light. These are mantle lamps. What does that mean? Bring to mind the Coleman lanterns you remember from camping. The ones that hiss and put out a very bright light. Those are mantle lamps too.

Aladdin lamps are mantle lamps, but instead of burning compressed gas, they burn kerosene.

In mantle lamps, the light does not come from the flame. The flame is used to heat the incandescent mantle. This is a thin, delicate mesh impregnated with rare-earths and mineral salts. These elements glow white-hot under heat. This is how the Aladdin lamp can produce a light that matches modern electric bulb output.

They are wonderful devices, and I have a few, but they are more finicky. They need a mantle, and you have to be very careful to keep the wick absolutely level, or you’ll get flame spikes that leave black carbon deposits on your mantle. The solution is to turn the flame low and burn off the carbon slowly.

Here’s my 1936 Aladdin Model B in green Corinthian glass:

Josh Slocum

Hopefully this has tempted you to get your first kerosene lamp. There are some dependable businesses run by people who love these lamps and know everything about them. Most breakable and replaceable parts like the glass chimneys and the wicks are still made and readily available from these purveyors and others.

Nobody knows more about lamps, and nobody has a wider selection of wicks, chimneys, diagrams, and how-to articles, than Miles Stair on the West Coast of the U.S. Go to his site first whenever you have a question.

Woody Kirkman of Kirkman Lanterns manufactures and sells quality reproduction lamps and replacement parts for antiques. You have likely seen his work in period films and at Disney parks and like. He is often hired to supply kerosene and gas lighting fixtures for movies and TV and for theme parks.

Gather those you love around you, and light your lamp.

​Lifestyle, Home, Heating, Kerosene lamps, Provisions, Antiques, Oil lamps, Little house on the prairie, Aladdin lamps, Intervention 

Police in Jacksonville, Florida, said they responded to a home around 12:41 p.m. Tuesday after a report that a person was shot, First Coast News said.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said a man believed to be in his 70s living in the home on Arlex Drive, off Merrill Road, reportedly told police that a male armed with a gun broke through a window in the back of the home, the outlet reported.

‘Just glad to have another one, another one of these guys off the streets.’

The victim said he was ordered into a back bedroom and forced to hand over his car keys and other valuables, the outlet added, citing the sheriff’s office.

But the elderly victim fought back.

The sheriff’s office said the homeowner was able to grab a gun and managed to shoot the suspect once in the shoulder, the outlet reported.

The wounded suspect reportedly fled the home and drove off in the victim’s car, First Coast News said.

However, the sheriff’s office said police found the suspect inside the vehicle about 30 minutes later and took him into custody on Fort Caroline Road, near Jacksonville University — just a few miles from the scene of the home invasion, the outlet noted.

Brandon Meredith, who was driving along University Boulevard, told First Coast News he witnessed the suspect’s capture.

“Everyone had their tasers drawn,” Meredith told the outlet. “They’re moving up in a special kind of formation on the back of the car, heard a pop, they grabbed him and pulled him out, put him on the ground, and EMS was tending to him, and they had the intersection shut down for about two hours while this whole thing unfolded.”

RELATED: Elderly Texas homeowner armed with hunting rifle spots burglar who broke through back door. It doesn’t end well for intruder.

The suspect, who has not yet been publicly identified, was taken to a hospital for the gunshot wound, the sheriff’s office told First Coast News, and was in police custody.

Meredith added to the outlet that he’s happy with the way things ended up: “Just glad to have another one, another one of these guys off the streets.”

First Coast News said those with information about the incident that could help in the investigation can contact the sheriff’s office at 904-630-0500. The outlet added that anonymous tips are also welcome through Crime Stoppers.

Commenters on WJAX’s Facebook post about the incident expressed a variety of opinions about the outcome. The following are but a few of them:

“‘In custody’ means the homeowner needs some range time,” one commenter asserted.”Dang, people still dare to break in other houses in open carry state,” another user opined.”He’s a hero,” another commenter declared.”The only problem I see is the homeowner needs some shooting lessons,” another user wrote, adding “shoot for center mass, and this potentially eliminates the issue.””In blue states and cities, this poor homeowner would have to face trial and have his life financially ruined (at best), or spend the rest of his life in prison,” another commenter observed.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Crime thwarted, Florida, Jacksonville sheriff’s office, 2nd amend., Home invasion, Armed intruder, Robbery, Gun rights, Shooting, Jacksonville, Car theft, Guns, Self-defense, Crime 

The Department of Health and Human Services delivered what could prove to be a lethal blow this week to the profitable and predatory child sex-change industry that has been on the defensive since President Donald Trump’s Jan. 28 executive order directing all federal agencies to ensure that medical institutions receiving federal funding “end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”

HHS published an exhaustive peer-reviewed report on Wednesday that should make abundantly clear to those still clinging to LGBT activists’ preferred narrative about so-called “gender-affirming care” that “the harms from sex-rejecting procedures — including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical operations — are significant, long term, and too often ignored or inadequately tracked.”

“This is a new day in the Department of Health and Human Services. It’s a new day in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, a new day for the country,” Admiral Brian Christine, assistant secretary for HHS, told Blaze News. “It is because of President Trump and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that this information has come out.”

‘The HHS report should put an end to the scourge of child mutilation masquerading as health care.’

The 410-page report, titled “Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices,” reads as the weightier American counterpart to Britain’s damning Cass Review, detailing:

the often glossed-over risks and medical uncertainties involved with puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and sex-change genital mutilations; the unscientific nature and strategic omissions of fact in the World Professional Association of Transgender Health guidelines; the manipulation of medical definitions undertaken in service of gender ideologues’ medical agendas; ethical concerns regarding consent for sex-change procedures as well as the regret often experienced by victims of such procedures; andthe “international retreat” from the “gender-affirming” model of care.

The report — which National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya indicated “marks a turning point for American medicine” — notes that the overall quality of evidence concerning the effects of sex-change medical interventions on long-term health, psychological outcomes, quality of life, and regret was found to be “very low.”

Accordingly, the beneficial effects alleged in the literature and often cited by gender ideologues are likely to differ substantially from the actual effects of the sex-change procedures.

‘It’s literally a billion-dollar industry. It creates lifelong customers.’

What’s more, the report noted that while the risks of child sex changes are many and unmistakable — including infertility, sexual dysfunction, impaired bone density accrual, surgical complications, and heart, metabolic, and psychiatric disorders — publication bias, a failure of existing studies to adequately track and report harms, and other factors may have obfuscated the true fallout of so-called “gender-affirming care.”

The report minces no words in its conclusion, stating:

Many U.S. medical professionals and associations have fallen short of their duty to prioritize the health interests of young patients. First, there was a rapid expansion and implementation of a clinical protocol that lacked sufficient scientific and ethical justification. Second, when confronted with compelling evidence that this protocol did not deliver the health benefits it promised, and that other countries were changing their policies appropriately, U.S. medical professionals and associations failed to reconsider the “gender-affirming” approach. Third, conflicting evidence — evidence that challenged the foundational assumptions of the protocol and the professional standing of its advocates — was mischaracterized or insufficiently acknowledged. Finally, dissenting perspectives were marginalized, and those who voiced them were disparaged.

“The American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics peddled the lie that chemical and surgical sex-rejecting procedures could be good for children,” HHS Secretary Kennedy said in a statement.

“They betrayed their oath to first do no harm, and their so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ has inflicted lasting physical and psychological damage on vulnerable young people,” continued Kennedy. “That is not medicine — it’s malpractice.”

RELATED: Sacrificing body parts and informed consent to the sex-change regime

Photo by Bob Riha Jr./Getty Images

When other Western nations, Britain in particular, began to re-evaluate their barbaric medical approaches to gender dysphoria, the Biden administration and the U.S. medical establishment dug in their heels and pushed the child sex-change regime to new extremes.

For instance, Biden’s transvestic Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Rachel Levine, formerly Richard Levine, successfully pressured WPATH to drop its recommended minimum age requirements for sex-change mutilations. His reasoning for lowering the recommended age minimums — 17 for genital mutilations, 15 for healthy breast removals, 16 for breast implants, and 14 for hormone treatments — was apparently not based on scientific evidence but on politics.

Levine’s successor, Trump HHS Assistant Secretary Brian Christine, told Blaze News, “There was absolutely an effort by the prior administration and, very specifically, an absolute effort by the individual who was the prior assistant secretary for health, Rachel Levine,” to continue politicizing children’s health.

He added that both ideology and profit prompted medical professionals and associations to similarly dig in their heels.

“It’s literally a billion-dollar industry. It creates lifelong customers,” said Christine. “You bring a little boy or a little girl in and you have them either get hormones or they get a mutilating surgery — you’ve created a lifelong customer. You’ve created someone who’s going to come back again and again and again because of surgical complications or other things going on.”

Gender dysphoria is an “emotional and mental condition,” he explained. “There’s no question about that. These individuals who truly have gender dysphoria, they suffer terribly. They deserve compassion. They deserve mental health care. What they don’t need are sex-rejecting surgeries.”

Christine said that treating gender dysphoria as a mental health condition is especially important with kids. “You should treat them with mental health care because we know that if you do, the majority of these kids, by the time they’re in their late teens, are very comfortable in their own skin,” he said.

Neeraja Deshpande, policy analyst for the Independent Women’s Forum, said that the report, “in addition to creating a more transparent system, confirms once and for all what never should have been up for debate to begin with: that so-called surgical and chemical body alteration in the name of ‘gender transition’ is a medical danger to children.”

Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, said in a statement to Blaze News, “The HHS report should put an end to the scourge of child mutilation masquerading as health care.”

RELATED: ‘They’ll create second sets of genitals’: WPATH Files author tells Glenn Beck about ‘gender-affirming care’ mutilations

Luis Soto/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

“The peer-reviewed study only confirms what the American Principles Project and anyone with common sense has known all along: The gender industrial complex relies on bad faith, bad science, and a radical ideology that places the financial interest of drug companies over those of children,” said Schilling.

Schilling suggested to Blaze News that elements within the child sex-change regime are now more likely to reap the whirlwind in court.

“This is, at a minimum, some type of consumer fraud. I do think that because of how horrific the harm that they did was that it does cross into serious criminal areas.”

While Schilling noted that the industry presently enjoys robust protection from trial attorneys and left-wing institutions, once major legal actions break through, prompting big payouts, “then you’ll have blood in the water, and the sharks will start circling.”

Schilling alluded to Chloe Cole‘s lawsuit as one such potential breakthrough action.

Cole, a detransitioner who has raised awareness across the country about the horrors and fallout of sex-change medical interventions, has sued Kaiser Permanente for alleged medical negligence in connection with the sex-rejecting procedures the health system performed on her as a minor.

Schilling commended the numerous experts who put their names to the report — including doctors and scientists from the Baylor College of Medicine, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Duke University — stating, “They’re very courageous for doing this. This is a very powerful and embedded industry that’s been doing really big and terrible things in the country … and for these guys to put their names behind it is a very big deal.”

When asked whether this report ultimately amounts to a lethal blow against the sex-change regime, HHS Assistant Secretary Christine told Blaze News, “Yeah, we certainly hope so. We certainly believe it will be. Listen, our job in the administration is to protect our children, protect our citizens. Our job is to produce gold-standard science. That’s exactly what we have done. It’s exactly what we’re doing.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Sex change, Gender affirming care, Gender, Lgbt, Sex change surgeries, Medicine, Health, Hhs, Terry schilling, Medicalization, Robert f kennedy, Rfk, Gender ideology, Science, Brian christine, Politics 

A 29-year-old male accused in a fatal stabbing in Boston over the weekend was facing weapons and drug charges less than a month ago but walked free.

Court records indicate that Javonte Robinson’s previous weapons and drug charges were dismissed when an attorney could not be found after 45 days, WCVB-TV reported.

‘Under Governor Healey, the state failed to pay public defenders adequately, failed to ensure the courts had the staffing they needed, and failed to protect the public.’

Robinson’s case was dropped amid a work stoppage involving private attorneys who normally defend suspects who can’t afford lawyers, the station said, adding that the attorneys in question stopped accepting new cases in May in an attempt to force the state to pay them more.

WCVB said Robinson was among 145 individuals whose charges were dismissed in one day of court proceedings.

Robinson then allegedly stabbed a man Saturday night in the city’s Mattapan neighborhood, and the victim was taken to a hospital, where he died, Boston police said, according to the station. Robinson was arrested just after 3 p.m. Sunday, WCVB noted.

Robinson was arraigned Monday in Dorchester District Court and pleaded not guilty to the murder charge, Boston.com reported, citing court records. He was then taken to Suffolk County Jail, the outlet added.

RELATED: Thugs on parole, probation thrown behind bars after allegedly repeating same crimes that got them in trouble previously

More from Boston.com:

In late August, Robinson was arraigned on charges of possession of a dangerous weapon and possession of a Class A drug. He was released on personal recognizance, according to the records, but was transported to Attleboro District Court, where he was wanted on other outstanding warrants.

Last month, Robinson’s charges were dismissed without prejudice, meaning that the case could be reopened in the future. This was the result of the “Lavallee protocol,” which was activated in Massachusetts earlier this year due to the work stoppage.

Boston.com noted that the “Lavallee protocol” mandates that defendants without attorneys are ordered released after being held for more than seven days — and those who go 45 days without a lawyer have their cases dismissed without prejudice.

This is what happened in Robinson’s dangerous weapon case, Boston.com said, citing court records.

Massachusetts Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve blasted Democrat Gov. Maura Healey for her handling of the lawyer shortage in the wake of the Robinson case, the Boston Herald reported.

Shortsleeve, according to the paper, said that “this should never happen in a functioning state government. Under Governor Healey, the state failed to pay public defenders adequately, failed to ensure the courts had the staffing they needed, and failed to protect the public. That is unacceptable, and it is dangerous.”

Fellow Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue also blamed Healey, the Herald said: “The fundamental role of the governor is to uphold the law and keep our communities safe. This is another example of our governor failing to solve problems and [running] an organization that has a horrible impact on the victim and their families.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Boston, Massachusetts, Criminal set free, Possession of a dangerous weapon charge, Murder charge, Fatal stabbing, Lawyer work stoppage, Pay dispute, Police, Maura healey, Crime 

The years-long trend of American de-Christianization recently came to an end, with the Christian share of the U.S. population stabilizing at roughly six in ten Americans, according to Pew Research Center data. Of the 62% of adults who now identify as Christians, 40% are Protestants, 19% are Catholics, and 3% belong to other Christian denominations.

There are signs in multiple jurisdictions pointing to something greater than a mere stabilization under way — at least where the Catholic Church is concerned.

The New York Post recently found that multiple New York City Catholic parishes have not only seen a spike in conversions but their churches routinely fill to the brim. That’s likely good news for the Archdiocese of New York, which was found in a recent Catholic World Report analysis to have been among the 10 least fruitful dioceses in 2023 in terms of baptism, conversion, seminarian, and wedding rates.

‘We’ve got a real booming thing happening here.’

Fr. Jonah Teller, the Dominican parochial vicar at Saint Joseph’s in Greenwich Village, told the Post that the number of catechumens enrolled in his parish’s Order of Christian Initiation of Adults for the purposes of conversion has tripled since 2024, with around 130 people signing up.

Over on the Upper East Side, St. Vincent Ferrer has seen its numbers double since last year, jumping to 90 catechumens. The Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral has reportedly also seen its numbers double, ballooning to around 100 people. The Diocese of Brooklyn doubled its 2023 numbers last year when it welcomed 538 adults into the faith and expects the numbers to remain high again this year.

Attendance in New York City reportedly skyrocketed in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, who was apparently attending mass with his Catholic wife, Erika, and their children.

RELATED: Charity, miracles, and high tech — here’s how these monks built a massive Gothic monastery

Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images

“We’re out of space and exploring adding more masses,” Fr. Daniel Ray, a Catholic Legionary priest in Manhattan, told the Post. “We’ve got a real booming thing happening here, and it’s not because of some marketing campaign.”

While a number of catechumens cited Kirk’s assassination as part of what drove them to the Catholic Church, others cited a a desire for a life- and family-strengthening relationship with God; a desire to partake in the joy observed in certain devout Catholics; a desire for community; a desire for “guardrails”; and a desire for anchorage and meaning in a chaotic world where politics has become a substitute for faith.

“My generation is watching things fall apart,” Kiegan Lenihan, a catechumen in the OCIA at St. Joseph’s told the Post. “When things all seem to be going wrong in greater society, maybe organized religion isn’t that bad.”

Lenihan, a 28-year-old software engineer, spent a portion of his youth reading the works of atheist intellectuals such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. After experiencing an anxiety-induced crisis at school, he apparently sought out something of greater substance, devouring the works of Marcus Aurelius. He found that his life still lacked greater meaning despite achieving material success.

‘The Catholic Church is a place of sanity.’

“I realized on paper, I had everything I wanted, but I had no fulfillment in my soul,” said Lenihan, who remedied the problem by turning to Christ.

Liz Flynn, a 35-year-old Brooklyn carpenter who is in OCIA at Old St. Patrick’s, previously sought relief for her anxiety and depression in self-help books and dabbled in “pseudo spiritualism.”

After finding a book about God’s unconditional love for his children in a gift shop during a road-trip stop at Cracker Barrel, she began praying the rosary and developed an appreciation for Catholicism.

“I’m happier and calmer than I’ve ever been,” Flynn told the Post. “Prayer has made an enormous impact on my life.”

New York City is hardly the only diocese enjoying an explosion in conversions.

The National Catholic Register reported in April that numerous dioceses across the country were seeing substantial increases in conversions. For instance:

the Diocese of Cleveland was on track to have 812 converts at Easter 2025 — 50% more than in 2024 and about 75% more than in 2023; the Diocese of San Angelo, Texas, expected 56% more converts in 2025 (607) than in 2024 (388);the Diocese of Marquette, Michigan, was expected to see a year-over-year doubling of conversions; the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, was expected to see a 59% year-over-year increase; the Diocese of Grand Island, Nebraska, was set for a 45% increase;the Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio, was expecting a 39% increase in converts; andthe Archdiocese of Los Angeles noted a 44% increase in adult converts.

Besides the Holy Spirit, the conversions were attributed to the National Eucharistic Revival, immigration, and evangelization.

Pueblo Bishop Stephen Berg told the Register that people are flocking to the church because it stands as a bulwark against the madness of the age.

“I think the perception of the Catholic Church is changing,” said Bishop Berg. “In a world of insanity, I think that people are noticing that the Catholic Church is a place of sanity.”

“For 2,000 years, you know, through a lot of turbulent times — and the Church has been through turbulent times — we still stand as the consistent teacher of the faith of Christ,” continued Berg. “The people are intrigued by that.”

As of March, 20% of Americans described themselves as Catholics, putting the number of Catholic adults at around 53 million nationwide.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Catholic church, Catholic, Christian, Faith, Religion, Abide, Conversion, Evangelization, Vatican, Renaissance, New york city, Diocese, Rcia, Catechumen, Politics