Adults flock to Sunday school, but seldom at church

Back in 1992, the prospect of delving into the mysteries of God or Catholic tradition attracted precious few adult learners - just 500 all year - to a variety of short programs offered through a center at the College of St. Elizabeth in Morristown, N.J.

Fast-forward to today and the problem is finding space to accommodate the 5,000 to 7,000 who sign up annually. For one day-long program on spirituality in 2003, the Center for Theological and Spiritual Development had to erect a tent to shelter half of the 2,000 adults who descended on campus despite the $30 course fee. Dozens more were turned away.

Across the nation, adult learners are seeking out the teachers they believe will help them find God. From online forums with religious experts to short courses on Sabbath observance or on the fictional thriller "The DaVinci Code," high participation rates suggest basic religious education is not just for children anymore. Call it Sunday school for adults.

Spiritual appetites are longing for nourishment beyond the traditional parish-based Bible study. And those meeting today's demand for knowledge are often not the neighborhood pastor, rabbi, or imam. Instead, specialized centers and franchised programs are using big names and focused topics to educate grownups on one facet or another of the major religions.

As denominational leaders frequently watch from the sidelines, adults are learning what they want to know, which is sometimes orthodox and sometimes not. Either way, it's motivated adult students, who want results for their time and money and who are increasingly shaping agendas for religious education.

"Growing up, we thought, 'That's the priest's job' or 'that's the sister's job' " to understand the faith, says Rosemary Bleuher, associate director of Adult Faith/Community Formation for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet, Ill. "Some of us now believe it's the whole body of believers that has to learn."

Program planners are hearing the pleas from adults like Donna Smith, an at-home mother of four in Roselle, Ill. Growing up, she says, her family "went to church but never talked about faith."

Now, to help herself and children understand what Roman Catholics do and why, she has sought out four-week courses offered beyond her home parish on topics from Luke's Gospel to mission of the church.

"I'm hoping if I give them a solid foundation, my kids will someday live as Catholics," says Mrs. Smith. She tells them, for instance, what she learns in class about the mysteries of the Eucharist, or Lord's Supper. Now, she says, they like to sit up front during mass to watch the priest's every move.

From the pew to the shul, adults seem eager to learn. In Jewish learning centers, where adult students can choose among short courses on everything from Hebrew to Jewish politicians and Jewish comedy, the highest demand nationwide is for courses dealing with religious basics. Topics such as ritual observance, the Bible, the Talmud, spirituality, prayer, and Jewish ethics consistently attract the most active students, according to a study of Jewish education in the new millennium by scholars at Hebrew University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

At Islamic centers, training sessions to help ordinary Muslims explain their faith to outsiders in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, have become a popular staple. And in Christian circles, the hottest seminar knows no denominational boundaries. The Alpha Course, billed as "an opportunity to explore the meaning of life," is adding about 1,000 new sessions per year in the US for a total of 7,286 as of Aug. 2.

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