NET stands for National Evangelization Teams. According to NET Ministries, their organization seeks to “challenge young Catholics, through relational ministry, to follow Christ and embrace a life of community in the Church”.

Yes! NET Ministries also deploys missionaries on Retreat Teams to minister to middle school and high school youth at parishes and Catholic schools across the country.

Discipleship Teams offer a unique opportunity that combines the efforts of a parish or school and that of a NET team, in order to enrich Catholic culture and build a community of disciples that have a lasting relationship with Christ. A partnership is formed between a parish/school and NET Ministries, in which they work side-by-side to bring Christ to the community. (source: netusa.org/discipleshipteams/)

The missionaries are here to support and expand our existing efforts to accompany young people on the path of becoming spirit-filled disciples of Jesus Christ. The Discipleship Team will engage in a variety of outreach and discipleship activities for the youth of our parish and school community. This year's team will also leave Brighton a handful of times to provide retreats at other locations in our region.

The missionaries stay in host homes with parish families who have generously agreed to house 2-4 missionaries in their home for 1-2 weeks. We still have openings in the housing schedule - click here to learn more about hosting or click here to let us know you're interested!

Our 3rd-Year team of Missionaries will be in Brighton from mid-September 2024 through April 2025. This will be our third and final year of having a team at our Parish through our partnership with NET Ministries.

The missionaries are thoroughly screened by NET Ministries in order to ensure their suitability for working with youth. NET Ministries follows the recommendations laid out by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in their “Charter for the Protection of Young People”. These measures include: criminal background checks, numerous reference checks, a letter of suitability from their Pastor, and completion of “VIRTUS - Protecting God’s Children” course, and additional instructions on maintaining safe environments for youth during their initial 5-week training.

All NET Missionaries complete a 6-week training process prior to beginning ministry. This training equips them to conduct outreach and discipleship efforts among the youth in a parish/school community. They are taught how to model a life of discipleship for young people, engage youth in outreach activities outside of church/school, share testimonies, run small groups, encourage peer-to-peer faith sharing, mentor individual youth, teach young to develop a habit of daily prayer, and more.

Our Discipleship Team is supervised by Marissa Dawson, Coordinator of Youth Discipleship at St. Patrick. They also are also remotely supported by full-time supervisors at the NET Ministries Center in Minnesota. Their NET supervisors are in regular weekly contact with the missionaries and make 4 site visits throughout the year.