CALLED: The Next Chapter
How Sunday to Sunday Productions is responding to Pope Leo XIV’s call to build digital missions that call the faithful, those who have fallen and those yet to experience the Grace of the Lord in their lives.
Over the past two years, Sunday to Sunday has continued to build the media ministry founded by the late Fr Michael Russo, through the technologies of communication which enable programs to reach audiences and build communities in the name of the Holy Spirit.
CALLED is the embodiment of that digital media mission work and exactly that of which Pope Leo has frequently and recently spoken, and is clearly a large part of where he future envisions the world encountering Christ.
As you may know from previous newsletters, Sunday to Sunday Productions along with the Passionists were blessed to receive a Compelling Preaching grant from the Lilly Endowment that enabled us to start the CALLED program. Our grant application was far different than most. Where others might have explained how they would use their funds to organize retreats, campaign local outreach, create annual gatherings for groups, CALLED introduced a whole new approach. CALLED would use media, technology, data and industry standard infrastructure that could be plugged into any faith program to grow and amplify its impact, reach and scalability both programmatically and financially. Bold, radical and interesting enough to attract Lilly Endowment’s attention and faith in our capabilities to carry it out, and we did just that.
The following is a recap of our success, what we’ve learned, and the next chapter of CALLED where we open the program to a select diverse group of “new voices,” all digital missionaries that have proven their ability to be prolific in Christ-centered outreach and where our integrated “media tech hug” will significantly amplify their communities.
Our Road to Emmaus
Imagine building a bridge across a gorge with the goal of creating a safe path that shaves time off the daily commute of drivers trying reach a city. You need infrastructure. You also need technology to know whether the bridge is being used for its intended purpose of saving time — a way to measure success. You have two options: option one is a well-known bridge building company that can easily build it for you with the catch that only THEY will for certain know whether your bridge is being used for its stated purpose because they own the data — you just get to see your bridge and people using it. Option two is you use the exact same materials, engineering and architecture that the well-known bridge company uses, except all the information about whether the bridge is a success is your own. Option two takes more time and resources and engineering, but you own it and most importantly, you can use the information you gather to determine whether the actual goals of the bridge are being served, not just whether or not it was successfully built. You directly have the information to discover whether the drivers are not only using the bridge, but also if they enjoying it and find it safe, reliable and time saving.
This description is exactly the choice that every Catholic digital missionary must make when they take on the very hard work of building a digital community and platform. One either allows Meta to build their bridge for them, thus relinquishing to Meta all of the valuable data that goes with your build that you could use to improve upon future bridges, or build your own and use the data to definitively improve and drive success.
Most digital missionaries don’t even consider building their own media infrastructure, until now. Until CALLED.
The Recipe
Let us take a look at an extraordinary example in the Catholic media space which has literally revolutionized the proliferation of Catholic media influencers and digital mission work: Word on Fire.
The following are three ingredients that Word on Fire used to become an incredible Catholic media and edutainment hub:
Multi-Platform, High-Quality Content: Word on Fire focused on creating and distributing compelling Catholic content across several digital channels, particularly YouTube, podcasts, and a visually attractive website. Word on Fire’s success was rooted in reaching audiences via multiple media and high production standards acknowledging that its content should be accessible, engaging, and tailored to both faithful Catholics and seekers.
Build and Own Your Audience & Community: Word on Fire used direct-to-consumer approaches, like building robust email lists, enabling direct sales or signups on a website, and encouraging interactive community participation online. Word on Fire prioritized growing its own community and leveraged direct communication channels rather than relying primarily on third-party platforms. This is successfully meant to encourage user-generated content, testimonials, and regular feedback to foster a sense of belonging.
Invest in Scalable Systems and Partnerships: As you grow, it is critical to invest early in systems and partnerships, such as fulfillment, cataloging, and data management, that will let you scale without losing efficiency. Word on Fire’s rapid expansion only became sustainable through operational improvements, enabling them to handle increased demand, distribute resources widely, and focus on new initiatives. These steps will lay a solid foundation to reach audiences, build community, and sustain long term mission-focused growth, reflecting exactly that which made Word on Fire a Catholic media leader.
The Application
After looking at programs like Word on Fire and others like Ascension Presents and applying the appropriate infrastructure and strategic investments to CALLED, we were then able to further implement these blueprints and utilize them for the first Attentive Heart program. Fr John Gribowich and his curriculum team of three lay theologians developed Sunday to Sunday’s Attentive Heart program into a curriculum that could be presented in a variety of forms delivering the same message of finding ways to live your own life like a homily, and developing an Attentive Heart for finding Christ in everyday encounters. Through newsletters, podcasts, webinars, a web/mobile community platform, scholarships, retreats, high quality on-demand courses, workshops and live streams, we built from scratch a program that we could prove our concept:
Sunday to Sunday can be the trifecta of digital missionary work — the builder, the distributor and the strategic partner to developing any program product within the otherwise noisy environment of digital media, while effectively finding the right audience and building a private and safe community where the faithful will be nourished and feel at home. To this end, we confirm: mission accomplished.
The Results
Just because you are a runner does not mean you like all running shoes. You probably have your favorite brand citing both tangible and intangible reasons why. Running shoe companies know this and spend a lot of time in R&D to make a shoe you will like — not just once, but for life.
Catholicism can be the same way. From the pews to the pulpit, from real world faith community interactions to online feeds of faith, we all have our own preferences that match where we are in our faith journey. This takes time, and it takes data to make informed decisions about a faith program, its products and its services. For decades the Church has used anecdotal means by which to determine how to keep laity in the pews and has invested in ministry, including nurturing those called to vocations. Churches have also used “smells and bells” or those aspects of Mass that appeal to the senses, now unavailable to the online congregation. Online parishes also opened Facebook pages and Instagram accounts without really understanding the point other than to use them as digital scrapbooks and announcement boards. The results are as expected garnering only a few hundred members, announcements that get a drive by look, and no real ability to grow community or scale programs.
The CALLED Methodology
Let us now look at how Sunday to Sunday Productions’ CALLED applied media technology and data science has been used to form the Attentive Heart program from an idea to a coast to coast, vibrant second half of life program and community.
Mission and Brand. Allowing the program director and curriculum team to develop the messaging allowed us to populate our multi-media platform with on-brand messages and graphics that made podcasts, newsletters and social media posts speak from a common voice and design language. The data that we collected was fed back to the curriculum team to further inform the language and intent of what would make Attentive Heart programs attractive, and to whom. Great examples of early ideas such as “living your life like a homily” and “preaching journey” were data informed as too obtuse to be attractive to even a target audience. Therefore that invitation was replaced by “form an attentive heart” as a curiosity-building invitation to learn more about your own internal spirituality and to explore “encountering Christ in your daily life.” This ability to pivot and craft the narrative not only 1) remained true to the mission but 2) was not based on what we thought people would like, but what they were affectively reacting to, quickly defining and refining the brand and its language and offering an excellent and targeted product to the world at large.
Product Development. When we think of faith programs, the word “product” usually does not come to mind. Whether marketing in real world or digital programs, competing for attention requires a product mindset. For any program, successful formation is probably the most difficult process that requires at least a minimum of beta testing. It is very common and very easy for program directors to believe there is only one way to present their product. Maybe it’s a symposium, or a retreat or an online gathering. Maybe it’s a combination of all of these things. Regardless of the various models of market strategy, however, there is only one true linchpin of success: data. Only reliable and therefore self contained and protected data can convert a plan from mere textbook tactics to a successful real world strategy for growth. In the case of CALLED, Attentive Heart had piloted an eight week course that was delivered via weekly zoom calls that were followed by a three day in person retreat. The pilot was populated with friends and colleagues of the curriculum team and detailed feedback was gathered about the value of the course.
Measuring Stakes. It is widely held that the failure to measure stakes is likely responsible for much of faith program stagnation. There is probably no more impressive outcome from the past two years than what we learned from measuring the stakes a faith consumer uses to determine whether to join a program. It was fascinating and the rule of rising stakes is one that we encounter everyday: the one month free trial, the movie trailer, the downloadable book in exchange for your email. These are all examples of low stakes invitations to join your community. In the case of CALLED it was quickly realized that coming out of the box with an eight week course and retreat was too much of an investment of time and cost for an unknown brand. Building brand capital takes time even if your flagship faith message is absolutely compelling and attractive. For example, after 25 years, Bishop Barron could easily release an eight week course and a three day retreat, and there would be a waiting list for a year. There are hacks, and we employed some, but programs have to start with low stakes (usually time and cost) as an invitation into your community. Over the course of one year, we pivoted from two, 3 Day Retreats in NY and California, to our extremely popular one day workshops for audience segments. Through DATA, that secret sauce linchpin, we were able to find the right recipe for where CALLED’s Attentive Heart program was in its journey. ie. A budding faith ministry brand with a popular message and served in an easy to consume package that extended an invitation to community.
Community Building. One of the biggest weaknesses of programs of any kind is called the “tent pole effect.” This marketing term refers to the amount of energy and media that is expended in the lead up to an event, the apex of the tent pole being the event itself. We have all had this experience: we attend the conference, we are invigorated, we meet people, ideas flourish, and we leave with a wonderful refresh of all the things that will be done with these new relationships, ideas and resources. But now it’s Tuesday and we are blindly, if not necessarily sliding down the side of the tent. The traffic of life reminds us that it is definitively back to life as usual; two weeks later you find cards in your jacket and struggle to remember why you were so excited to meet them in the first place. The other side of the tent pole is a lack of time, attention and resources to keep you in community with the energy you created and the relationships you made. CALLED was built exactly for this community. Every event participant, every newsletter subscriber, every podcast listener became part of a digital community that was invited into deeper fellowship —not just more information— and quickly turned from a few course graduates to a community of hundreds. Each participant invited to stay engaged at least once per month on thematic webinars, on-demand courses and more optimally on the CALLED web and mobile platforms where members became CALLED Ambassadors eager to welcome new members into a peer mentorship environment where courses lived on and everyone could enjoy the individual and collective experience of formation, and growing their experiences in everyday encounters with Christ in their lives. It is here they form the confidence and bravery of the course’s original intention - living a gratifying life of faith like your own homily and encouraging others to do so, as well.
Commitment. The ultimate goal of Sunday to Sunday’s CALLED program was to create the infrastructure and expertise to take any faith program and organize, scale and support its growth and sustainability. This “integrated media tech hug” are wrap around services that help programs strategically develop, market, host and support the long term viability of their programs. This includes communications, CRM, donation resonance development, media production, deep analytics and product development. But this also takes real commitment because the life of a digital missionary is hard. The schedule, cadence, frequency and near constant tuning of the message and product requires the persistent nurturing of a growing community. The life of digital missionary requires toiling in a noisy world dominated by distraction and consumerism intent to eclipse all Light. It is not for everyone, but to quote a well known proverb, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Sunday to Sunday Productions is the bridge builder for digital missionaries ready for the journey and ready to go far. We do this together and in His Name, to build a new way to Church. AMDG.
CALLED digital infrastructure spins a proven cycle of growth and community for faith’s new voices.
CALLED II: NEW VOICES
Musical performer at the Nov ‘24 Attentive Heart 3-Day Retreat, Queens NY, the data from which informed the CALLED Music Ministers Workshop in association with Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, Sept ‘25
With our two year proof of concept complete, and the incredible success of CALLED’s Attentive Heart program, we are ready to open our tools and strategies to a hand selected group of “New Voices.” The CALLED New Voices program will invite Catholic digital evangelists and programs who have a solid following, a proven commitment to their digital missionary life and come from a diverse background of clergy and laity with unique brand messaging that can be scaled, amplified and made sustainable using our proven methodology. Through this we hope to spread the work of digital missionaries in response to Pope Leo’s mandate, so that the Holy Spirit can work through the digital metaverse and find souls on which to land and ignite. These may, for example include our friends the “media-nuns” who have excellent production quality but limited distribution. This may also be the host of a popular podcast that services unreached communities struggling to find the time and resources to grow. It may be fellow grantees of the Compelling Preaching grant who have developed wonderful programs in need of scale and replication and data to expand their reach and communicate the kind of metrics that allow them to apply for and obtain new grants or grant renewals. This is the exciting future of the next chapter of CALLED by Sunday to Sunday Productions and The Passionists. Please stay tuned, and if you haven’t already, subscribe below. It’s low stakes!
Frank Connelly, Chief Marketing Officer & Media Technology, Sunday to Sunday Productions
