Marina Garcia completes year of ministering to youth

St. John Paul II High School alumna Marina Garcia, Class of 2012, completed a year of leading a nine-member team from all corners of the country in a mission to make the love of Christ known to the youth of the Church. The missionary work is sponsored by NET Ministries, located in St. Paul, Minnesota and is intended to engage youth and encourage them towards an active pursuit of their faith.
 
NET, an acronym for National Evangelization Teams, is primarily made up of traveling teams that conduct retreats at schools and parishes across the nation. NET also has stationary teams to help establish a ministry at a parish or school. Garcia’s team was at Providence Academy, a Catholic high school in Plymouth, Minnesota.
 
“We spent the days going to classes, lunches, practices and performances. Essentially what we were trying to accomplish was to form a relationship with the students in order to show them that living a Catholic life outside of the classroom is entirely possible,” Garcia said. “We were able to know them on a personal level, see their growth and earn their trust to be able to discuss their faith and make their relationship with Christ more real and relevant to their everyday lives.”
 
The mission began in August 2016 and wound up in May 2017.
 
Garcia said she would be returning to NET this coming year as a team supervisor where she will be overseeing the ministry of two NET teams in Minnesota. NET has been traveling around the U.S. for the past 35-years spreading the Gospel and helping young Catholics engage with their faith.
 
For more information and about NET Ministries and to donate to the organization, visit netusa.org. All donations are tax deductible.


NET Team 11 standing outside of Providence Academy on their first day.