LONDON — A new generation of young Catholics living in the U.K. are turning away from what many see as consumerist and technology-driven lifestyles — and toward God.

The U.K. is one of the least devout countries in the world with around 70 percent of people in the U.K. describing themselves as nonreligious or atheist, according to a 2017 poll by Gallup International.

But Britain is also a place where the number of new Catholic nuns has risen sharply since a low-water mark in 2004. And despite the stereotype that young people aren't interested in religion, one in four British Catholics aged 25 to 34 say they go to Mass weekly, compared with just one in five who are 45 to 64.

The ranks of Britain's young Catholic sisters include Theodora Hawksley, 33, who laughed about giving away some of her outfits when she joined the Congregation of Jesus in North London, as she felt they were “probably too slinky for a nun.”

"I thought, 'Probably not going to use that again!'" she recalled, referring to a sequined sleeveless top.

Hawksley never dons a habit. In a pale pink sweater and skinny jeans, a hammered silver ring inscribed with "My Life Is Christ" and a crucifix are the only visible hints that she’s an Ignatian sister. Hawksley says her congregation doesn't have "strict rules about what you wear."

She attributes some of the interest among young Brits in traditional Catholicism to the pressures of the digital age.

"Millennials themselves have grown up in a very permissive society in some ways, where you can do whatever you like, you can choose whatever you like, and I think feel a need for stronger identity and stronger boundaries," Hawksley said.

Hawksley and her religious sisters live somewhat differently from the stereotype of nuns: Apart from not dressing alike, members of the Congregation of Jesus don’t take religious names — Hawksley just goes by Theo. They don’t worship together every day, and they work outside the convent in a variety of roles, from child psychologist to academic.