Youth Ministry

Teen NET Nights

Sundays, 6:30 – 8:45 pm

Saint Thomas Aquinas High School Students

Rosary Hall

Dinner every NET Night!

Each NET Night students attend, their names are entered into a drawing to win an assortment of valuable prizes such as movie tickets, t-shirts and gift certificates.  If students attend all eight NET Nights, they receive an all-day pass to King’s Island!  All prizes are awarded on the final NET Night.

What are NET Nights?

During the 2018-19 program year, a National Evangelization Team (NET) of about a dozen college-age missionaries will serve at Saint Thomas Aquinas by leading a dynamic monthly gathering for our high school teens! NET Nights include dinner, presentations, games, skits, moving dramas, music, guided prayer time, men’s and women’s breakout sessions, prayer labs, recreation time, and opportunities to participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.

What makes NET Ministries so successful is their peer-to-peer approach to evangelization. Discipleship requires regular formation, accountability, and witness by other disciples.  The young, zealous missionaries of the National Evangelization Team are filled with the joy of the Gospel!  They effectively invite young people to participate in the “abundant life” (John 10:10) that Jesus offers and provide an opportunity for them to encounter Jesus and offer their lives to him.

Register as a Participant

To register as a participant in NET Nights, please click here.

What is the schedule and what are the topics?

Sunday, September 23 – Identity & Discipleship

This night is a kick-off to the school year and will lay down some of the foundation to the rest of the NET nights with a focus on what it means to be a son and daughter of God and how that can look in our day, drawing from the gift and grace of our Baptism and being made God’s Image.

Sunday, October 28 – Fully Alive

Only God is big enough to fill you. The pursuit of happiness motivates every decision we make. Why is it, then, that we  find ourselves unhappy so often? This theme explores our search for true happiness, highlighting the one thing that is big enough to fill our deepest desires – God himself.

Sunday, December 2 – The Journey

When we see that it truly was God who became man, we can be open to the journey he invites us on to become like him. We are each on a journey. Many traveled 2000 years ago to visit a child during this season we call Advent. But what sort of child attracts the attention of the world leaders of the time? This Advent theme explores the intrigue surrounding Jesus’ birth and our journey to become like Him.

Sunday, January 20 –  Joy of the Gospel

You are loved and saved! How can we experience the gift of God’s Joy this season? In Pope Francis’s letter, The Joy of the Gospel, he writes, “Christianity spreads through the joy of disciples who know that they are loved and saved.” This Christmas theme explores how we can experience the Joy of the Gospel by remembering God’s love and saving grace.

Sunday, February 17 – Man and Woman He created Them 

“The Glory of God is man fully alive”, we hear from St. Irenaeus. The Church has always taught that man and woman’s fullness of identity is rooted in Jesus and that path of true joy is found in the beauty of femininity and the glory of masculinity. We will break open Theology of the Body in a deeper way and would like to split the men and women up for some Q & A time. 

Sunday, March 17 – Heroic 40

Commit to the Heroic 40; Forty days and forty nights of prayer with guaranteed results. Think about the many diet plans that promise great results “in just forty days.” What would the world be like if we took these 40 days of Lent to truly grow closer to God? This Lenten theme explores the way God can transform our life when we seek him consistently in prayer.

Sunday, April 14: Anchored in Hope

There is no cross, big or small, in our life which the Lord does not share with us When storms rage, boats will rock. When you suffer, what or who is your anchor? This theme explores the power of being anchored in the hope of the resurrection in the midst of suffering.

Sunday, May 5: One Church

One universal home guaranteed by God. What if there was an institution we could trust when our reasoning fails us? What if there was an institution guaranteed by God himself to withstand every difficulty the world offers? There is. This theme explores the Catholic Church as the universal home for all people.