Pandemic Has Strengthened Faith For Some

When Sacramento State University classes went online because of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, 19 year-old Nicole Oneto moved back in with her parents about an hour south of Fresno, Calif.

"I was brought back into this bubble again," says Oneto about feeling isolated in her rural hometown of Woodlake. She lives on 10 acres and doesn't share some of the worldviews of her neighbors.

So earlier this year, after months back at home, she decided to start logging into the Sunday church services at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento, where her grandparents attend.

"It's helped break out of that feeling of being so stuck," Oneto says.

One of the Unitarian church's ministers, Rev. Dr. Roger Jones, says Oneto is just one of the young adults who has been attending services more regularly during the pandemic.