The power of the Holy Spirit is apparent in the life and example of St. Peter, Ascension School students learned during a retreat last month.
The disciple was a close friend of Jesus, yet in his denial of Jesus the night before his death, he lacked the courage to tell three people that he knew Jesus, Lillian Walters, a bubbly young adult, told the seventh- and eighth-grade retreatants.
But, in Acts 2, Peter stood up amid a large crowd and, raising his voice, proclaimed the Gospel — which led to 3,000 baptisms that day, she said.
“We go from Peter, who can’t tell three people he knew Jesus,” to the Peter, who proclaims the Gospel to the crowd. “What happened in the middle?” she asked the students.
“Pentecost,” she answered. “When he received the Holy Spirit, he was able to do that.”
Walters is a missionary who facilitates retreats through NET (National Evangelization Teams) Ministries. NET is a “charismatic organization” that provides retreats for seventh- to 12th-graders, said Alexandra Vargas, another NET missionary, during an interview Jan. 15.
The goal of NET retreats is “to evangelize to youth to remind them that Jesus loves them and to bring them into deeper conversion,” she explained.
Retreats often include Mass, skits, missionary testimonies, speaker sessions, games and small-group discussions.
NET offers several retreat themes to parishes and schools, but one of its most popular is its “Never Alone” retreat, which is designed for those preparing for confirmation.
“You will receive the same Holy Spirit that came upon Peter” during the sacrament of confirmation, Walters reminded the students — many of whom are preparing to receive the sacrament this spring.
“The Holy Spirit is a gift,” she said. But if we pay no attention to the gift, it is like a guitar of great value that is never played, but collects dust as it sits in a corner, she said.
Each person must choose to use the gift they have received, she explained. She encouraged the students to call upon the Holy Spirit, who they received at baptism and would receive again at confirmation.
Nine missionaries — hailing from states as far away as California, Minnesota and Texas — make up NET’s Cincinnati regional team, which leads missions in Ohio and its surrounding states, including Kentucky. It’s one of 10 NET teams serving in the U.S. Team members direct retreats six days a week, which vary from four to 10 hours each, said Vargas.
The retreat at Ascension School was the team’s 62nd retreat since September 2024, the start of their mission year. Five other parishes in the Archdiocese of Louisville have hosted them since September — St. Bernard, St. Martha, Holy Spirit and St. Margaret Mary churches in Louisville and St. James Church in Elizabethtown, Ky.
After beginning the retreat with Mass, the rosary and a skit, the Ascension School students were divided into small groups, each led by a NET missionary.
Building the students’ trust, the missionaries got to know their groups in different ways — one chatted with them about sports and hobbies, another played card games with them and another passed around a basketball.
The missionaries, in their 20s, “matched the energy” of the young participants, said Eddie Jarboe, director of faith formation at Ascension Church.
Slowly, the missionaries transitioned from superficial questions about siblings and school to deeper questions of faith, such as, “What is your spiritual life like?” or “Can you think of one thing you can do to draw closer to God?”
Charlotte Cochran, a seventh-grader who participated in the retreat, said the small groups felt like “a safe place for everyone.”
“It’s cool to see everyone’s personal questions,” she said. “I expected it to be a lot of praying, but we are having a lot of fun.”
To conclude the school-day retreat, students were given a “letter from Jesus” composed of Bible verses and offered an opportunity to write a letter back to him.
Jarboe said he hopes the witness of the young missionaries piqued the students’ interests and helped them make the connection that “faith can be lived in their lives.”
Summer Stinson, a NET missionary, said the team doesn’t always see the fruits of their mission due to their schedule, which requires them to return to the road after each retreat. Following a day of retreat, the missionaries drive anywhere from 30 minutes to five hours to their next retreat location, and are hosted by parishioners or school families, noted Vargas.
But glimpses of the retreats’ impact, such as a student expressing a desire to be baptized or returning to confession, remind her that God is working through the team, she said with excitement.
The following churches and schools have previously hosted, or plan to host, NET missionaries this year: St. Dominic in Springfield, Ky.; the Basilica of St. Joseph in Bardstown, Ky; Immaculate Conception in La Grange, Ky.; and Holy Trinity, St. Louis Bertrand and Our Lady of Lourdes churches in Louisville.
