Castros Host Ministry Team In Their Home

This past spring, the Castro family, Narragansett residents, hosted several young adults from the National Evangelization Team that had come to help lead a retreat for teenagers.

According to Diane Castro, the mom of the family, this isn’t the first time they have hosted people from NET.

“Saint Francis has committed to always host the team when they are holding retreats anywhere in Rhode Island,” Castro said. “Generally they are constantly moving from home to home every night but when they come to Rhode Island, they stay at our parishioners homes for about a week straight, which they really like.”

According to Castro, because the team members are out on the road for nine months at a time, all they are looking for in a host home is floor space to lie out their sleeping bags.

“They are used to ‘roughing it’ and so when they have a bed or a private room, it’s like a five-star hotel for them,” Castro said. “We provide them with breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and then dinner when they get back.”

Castro, her husband and their three daughters love meeting the team members and learning about their lives while they stay at their house.

“It’s such a great opportunity to invite them into our family for the week they are staying here, and it’s always a blessing to learn about their lives,” Castro said. “Some of the kids haven’t even been out of their home state, so if they have some spare time, we take them to or or maybe even to the beach.”

Castro also mentioned how there are often musicians in the team that comes to Rhode Island.

“Some of the kids will bring guitars and so we usually try and get all of the host families together from Saint Francis and have a jam session with the 10 kids from the team and the families,” Castro said. “It’s also really neat to keep in touch with the members that we host. We’ll correspond with them throughout the year and find out how they are doing.”

As the coordinator of religious education at Saint Francis of Assisi, Castro helps facilitate the retreat that the NET team holds at the parish in the spring.

“Because we have committed to hosting them, we also help advertise their presence throughout the state to other parishes and catholic schools who might want to have the team come in and host a retreat,” Castro said. “The National Evangelization Team is all about spreading the gospel and it’s always really awesome for our kids to be taught by their peers and to see people who are only three to seven years older than them who have made commitment to spread the gospel nationwide.”

Throughout the retreat, the team members share their own personal stories and challenge the retreat attendees to love Jesus Christ and to embrace the life of the Church.

“It’s amazing to see students who are so passionate about their faith that they spend nine months on the road, sharing that passion with others,” Castro said. “We always see our kids grow so much in their faith because of NET.”

To learn more about the National Evangelization Team, visit www.netusa.org or contact Saint Francis of Assisi Parish at (401) 783-4411.