Momentum is building for a more focused effort to help Catholic adults understand their faith more richly and practice it more fully.

Seeds are sprouting and growing. They are still tender and vulnerable, and there are bare patches where nothing visible has broken the surface. But like green shoots in a spring wheat field, the signs are clear:

---Bible study programs are springing up in parish after parish.

---The Catechism of the Catholic Church is following up its blockbuster status with a decade of continued strong sales.

---Books on theology, spiritual growth and ministry are pouring out of Catholic publishing houses.

---Retreats, until recently a once-a-year rarity for a handful of parishioners, have become a commonplace part of life in many communities.

Interest is growing, and much effort is being invested in this welcome phenomenon. But what is it to be called?

A brochure touts "adult education classes." A Web site advertises "faith formation" programs. There's a new staff position in a neighboring parish focused on "adult catechesis," and the new institute at the local Catholic college offers training in "adult spirituality."

It's easy to be confused by all the variations of terminology.

The U.S. bishops, in their 1999 document "Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us: A Pastoral Plan for Adult Faith Formation," made note of this inconsistency and opted for a strategy of patience: "A clear consensus on precise contemporary terminology and usage has not yet developed.... We do not wish to foreclose this natural and gradual process of development" (No. 188).

While it may take some time for a commonly accepted language to emerge, the bishops have chosen this terminology to identify this pressing need in the church: "adult faith formation."

The formal theological term "adult catechesis" has its roots in ancient Christian tradition and offers greater technical precision, but it sounds to the ordinary listener like an expert's word, a topic of interest only to professionals.

"Adult religious education" is more accessible, but it conjures up images --- textbooks, exams and teachers in front of classrooms full of desks --- which most adults associate with childhood.

"Adult faith formation," on the other hand, uses words ordinary people understand in daily conversation, and it is more neutral in terms of the memories it evokes.

"Adult faith formation" arises from the church's understanding of its central mission and from a vision of Christian faith as a relationship of intimacy with God.

The church exists to continue the evangelizing ministry of Jesus, proclaiming the good news of God's loving presence and power at every level of human society, in every corner of the globe. To fulfill that mission, all its members must be moving toward mature faith, understanding clearly what they believe and practicing it with love and commitment.

Mature faith requires nothing less than ongoing conversion to Christ, what the General Directory for Catechesis calls "full and sincere adherence to his person and the decision to walk in his footsteps" (No. 53). Such a personal, intentional commitment requires not only information about Christ --- understanding the doctrinal wisdom of our tradition, studying church teaching about who he is --- but, more centrally, knowing Christ personally, embracing a profound, life-changing relationship with him that affects every dimension of daily existence: family, work, leisure, politics and commerce as well as worship and prayer.

"Adult faith formation" encompasses everything the church does to help adults "consciously grow in the life of Christ through experience, reflection, prayer and study" ("Our Hearts" No. 5).

A serious effort to achieve this goal always will include systematic teaching and learning about the timeless truths of the Catholic faith. Central in such efforts are careful study of the Bible and of the teaching of the church expressed in The Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The broader vision lifted up by the bishops' pastoral plan for adult faith formation calls us also to encourage other ways in which adult faith is formed.

---In many parishes adults gather in small groups for shared reflection on the Sunday readings, prayer and mutual encouragement.

---Lay ministers receive training that goes beyond mere practicalities to help them connect church tradition with their personal lives.

---Parish worship is planned and celebrated with a greater awareness of the liturgy's formative power.

---Adults doing charitable work gather afterward to reflect upon their experience in the light of Christian teaching.

---Entire parishes are renewed and deepened in their faith through the witness of participants in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults process of conversion and sacramental preparation.

The bad news is that, for a while at least, we may have to adjust to inconsistencies in the way we talk about this Spirit-led groundswell of interest and effort.

The good news is that this new wave of enthusiasm promises to be a source of tremendous enrichment to those who participate in it and to the church whose mission they serve.

Dan Luby is director of the Division of Christian Formation for the Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas. "Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us: A Pastoral Plan for Adult Faith Formation" is available ($6.95) from USCCB Publishing, No. 5-299 (English) and 5-811 (Spanish). To order, call 800-235-8722, or write to USCCB Publishing, 3211 Fourth Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194.