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Led by the prompting of the Holy Spirit, NET was brought to fruition by a series of moments of faithfulness from the individuals God chose to carry out His work.
A crucial part of NET’s conception was the era and ideals that its founders faced. American Catholics living in the 1960s and 1970s experienced two massive cultural changes: the sexual revolution and the Second Vatican Council. Amidst these changes came a new outpouring of grace and the Charismatic Renewal. One of the many communities it touched was the Catholic Youth Center, known as the CYC, in St. Paul, Minnesota.
In 1972, the CYC, which had been founded in 1939 as a living space for Catholic University students, began to experience an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that would change the organization’s trajectory. For the first time, many CYC staff members began to experience God in a personal way, and this change immediately impacted the group’s ministry.
In 1978, Mark Berchem, who would later become the founder of NET Ministries, began to work for CYC. In January of 1980, through a desire to share the faith with more young people, a team of staff and volunteers from CYC spent a month in the Diocese of Winona, Minnesota, leading 16 retreats in 21 days.
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Spurred on by the success of this initial effort, the first year-long team was sent out in September of 1981. The team, which reached five states and nine dioceses, embodied the essence of NET Ministries: enthusiastic Catholic young adults presenting the gospel message of God’s love and mercy through talks, personal testimony, small group discussion, drama, and prayer.
In addition, 1981 marked the beginning of a beautiful relationship between philanthropist Rose Totino and the organization that was becoming NET Ministries. Rose was the first individual to donate to the mission of these teams, and her family remains a consistent supporter of the ministry even to this day.
NET became civilly incorporated in 1989 and moved from the recently closed CYC property to a rental space in Archbishop Brady High School and eventually to its permanent location in the former St. Croix Lutheran High School in West St. Paul, Minnesota. From there, NET began its first fundraising campaign. The name NET, standing for National Evangelization Teams, came from Matthew 4:19, “And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,” and Luke 5:4, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s, NET grew and responded to the needs of the Church and the calling of the Holy Spirit. Some of this growth included resuming CYC’s monthly youth Masses under the name Lifeline and expanding the NET Center to accommodate more youth, missionaries, staff, and programs. In 1996, Father Kevin Finnegan became the first NET Alumnus to be ordained a priest. Since then over 80 NET alumni have been ordained priests.
In 2005, NET expanded its ministry. In addition to retreats, the first discipleship team was established at Divine Mercy Parish in Faribault, Minnesota. The mission of a discipleship team is to enrich Catholic culture and help form lifelong disciples in a parish or school community through evangelistic outreach, life-changing discipleship, and Christian witness.
2007 marked two important milestones for NET: the addition of a ninth team and the first-ever second-generation NET Missionary. By 2012, another five teams were added. Bishop Andrew Cozzens received episcopal ordination in 2013 and became the first NET alumnus bishop. In 2014, a regional mission hub was opened in Cincinnati, Ohio and in 2016 one opened in Los Angeles, California.
In 2019, NET acquired YDisciple from the Augustine Institute. This new arm of ministry provides a library of digital content to form adults as evangelistic mentors and youth as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.
COVID-19 brought a pause to our ministry the very next year, but gave NET the opportunity to begin a process of strategic planning focused on the succession of NET’s founder and positioning NET for a major impact for years to come.
In 2022, the Go Forth Strategic Plan was adopted with the aim of reaching one million youth in six years. In these coming years, NET plans to expand to twenty teams, better serve the growing population of Catholic Latino youth, establish a Catholic leadership training program, and make training and ministry accessible to more parishes, schools, and dioceses through YDisciple videos and content.
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In 2023, David Rinaldi was appointed as new President of NET Ministries, with Mark Berchem moving into a strategic advisor role. The NET Ministries Foundation was also established as a separate 501(c)(3) to provide the resources for and advance the ministry of NET Ministries, Inc. Tom Ryan was appointed President of the NET Foundation.
NET has been replicated in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Uganda, and Scotland.