St. John Henry Newman, writing in the 19th century, wanted a Catholic laity “who know their religion … who know what they hold and what they do not.” Whatever the challenges Newman faced in the 19th century, one could argue that the challenge of educating adult Catholics in the faith is that much more significant in the 21st century.
For too many adults, their religious education stopped after they received the sacrament of confirmation, usually around junior high. That leaves many of us in a complex and challenging world with a child’s education in the faith. We try to glean what we can from homilies. If we have the initiative to learn more, we wander into the jungle of YouTube videos and podcasts, trying to steer between the fringe influencers selling their own gospels and the professional skeptics challenging belief itself.
Where do we go to get an adult education in the faith?
Two long-running Catholic gatherings on opposite sides of the country have come up with unique and successful ways to answer that question.
The first is an extraordinary Lenten “university” offered annually in the northern reaches of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Founded 25 years ago by Father Dave Heney, The University Series is a vast web of courses ranging from “Bible Study: Connecting Scripture to Life Today” to “Faith and Science: Friends or Foes?” In 2026 it offered 88 presentations on 15 different parish campuses on marriage, morality, current events, faith in music and more.
Father Heney’s genius was to focus on accessibility and practicality while at the same time betting that “people will make a big commitment for a short time.”
His bet has paid off. An estimated 15,000 Catholics and their friends attend one or more sessions each Lent. The program is cleverly designed to encourage connections. Someone who pays 10 dollars to enroll in a class can bring a friend for free. The program is described as “friend-raising, not fund-raising.” The nominal cost makes sure the student has a little skin in the game and is more likely to show up.
On the other side of the country is a quite different model called the New York Encounter. Sponsored by Communion and Liberation, an Italian renewal movement now growing in the United States, it is usually held on the weekend of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in New York City. It is free for everyone. No tickets, no reservations, just wide-open access to a panoply of speakers and topics. This year’s topic was “Where ‘Everything is Waiting for You,'” an extended reflection on belonging.
The New York Encounter relies on 400 volunteers to keep things on schedule and accessible. It features not just panels on various topics, but musical presentations and Mass (this year celebrated by New York’s emeritus archbishop Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan). The auditoriums and exhibit halls are teeming with people of all ages, but an inspiring number are college students.
February’s speakers included the Bishop of Kharkiv, Ukraine, who described the horror of Russia’s aggression in stark terms: “We are in the middle of a tempest of suffering and pain.”
Other speakers addressed Catholic teaching regarding just war, the crisis of globalization, the Church and A.I. and what some are calling a new religious revival in the West.
Exhibits included a tribute to the Algerian martyrs and to the Catholic founder of Bank of America.
The New York Encounter is not so much a university as a smorgasbord of fascinating people and topics. It is meant to provoke and explore, to lead to further conversations and further reading.
Two different models of educating the faithful and the interested. Two different signs of hope that St. Newman’s educated laity are being formed today.
For more information: www.theuniversityseries.org and www.newyorkencounter.org.
