According to participants at the third National Catholic Young Adult Conference in San Francisco, the Aug. 4-6 gathering provided a heady mix of learning, faith-sharing and fun experiences for young adults around the country as well as those who work in young adult ministry.

This mix was captured in a lively BustedHalo.com podcast featuring Paulist Father Dave Dwyer and co-host Mike Hayes during a lunch break Aug. 5.

"We try to cover the basic questions related to faith in a relevant and entertaining way," said Father Dwyer, director of Paulist Young Adult Ministries and publisher of BustedHalo.com, an online magazine for people in their 20s and 30s. Hayes is BustedHalo's managing editor.

He also gave the keynote address on the first day of the conference, which was held at the Jesuit-run University of San Francisco.

"Making Catholic learning and living 'fun' is what we're about," said Hayes, who brings the perspective of a married young adult to the podcast. Hayes, who is writing a book, said: "Today's young adults are not ticked off at the church; they just don't get the faith, and one way to approach this is to answer some basic questions."

Materials distributed to attendees also highlighted information available at the Web sites www.CatholicQandA.com, www.ncyama.org, www.usccb.org and www.vatican.va.

The opportunity for growth in their faith is what drew Carolina Helmick and Brian Helmick to the conference. The brother and sister belong to the young adult group at San Francisco's St. Vincent de Paul Parish.

Thirty-year old Brian said, "The conference is a good way to keep faith growing, beyond the training in faith received in first Communion, confirmation or in school."

Twenty-six year-old Carolina liked the fact that the conference centered on some of the current "hot topics in the church," she told Catholic San Francisco, newspaper of the San Francisco Archdiocese.

Louisiana native Derrick Elkins also shared an enthusiasm for the conference's focus on the faith of young adults. He will enter the novitiate for the Dominican Order of Missionaries for the Deaf Apostolate in late August.

Catherine Brignoni, a native of New York state who recently moved to California, learned of the conference through friends at St. Dominic Parish in San Francisco. She said she found the sessions helpful for her faith life.

Laura Keenan, Suzy Romo, Jenn Stoddard and Kiel Taylor, students attending the conference from Fresno State University, enthusiastically described their participation in a weekly Wednesday gathering of hospitality and collegiate fellowship hosted by local parishioners.

Taylor said the Wednesday evening dinner is always well-attended and leads up to "the biggest Sunday Mass in town," held at the St. Paul Newman Center adjacent to Fresno State University.

Among those sharing a restful moment before a Stations of the Cross procession Aug. 5 on Haight Street, in the Haight-Asbury district around the University of San Francisco, were conference attendees Cindee Case of Youngstown, Ohio, Jenene Francis of Chicago, Anna Marie Wright of St. Petersburg, Fla., and Michelle Carlos of San Francisco.

Wright, who works in young adult ministry in the Diocese of St. Petersburg, said, "Young adults are the 'now' --- not just the future --- of the church."

Case, who is Wright's counterpart in the Diocese of Youngstown said people her own age have inherited some of the cynicism of their parents, but young adults also want to reach out to a larger community and share their faith.

Francis, who is associate director of Charis Ministries in Chicago, said young people in their 20s and 30s are seeking ways to both better know and experience their faith.

San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer presided at two liturgies for conference attendees, one at St. Ignatius Church near the University of San Francisco and one at St. Mary's Cathedral.

In a homily Aug. 5, he said the message of the Gospel is that we must "live by faith and not by sight," which participants said helped to bring into focus the theme of the young adult conference, "Take Me as I Am."

The third event of its kind, the San Francisco conference was sponsored by the National Catholic Young Adult Ministry Association and the Archdiocese of San Francisco's Office of Young Adult and Campus Ministry, in collaboration with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

---CNS