Case Study: Attentive Heart
Our Proof of Concept 2024-2026
Receiving our Lilly Endowment Compelling Preaching Initiative grant allowed Sunday to Sunday to build the infrastructure we dreamt of, and thereby prove the concept that we could support a fledgling group of four evangelizers (a priest and three lay theologian educators) to strategically grow our Attentive Heart program into a nationwide movement that created opportunities for both Catholic faithful and seekers to connect digitally and in-real-life. In short, using digital media to create “encounters of heart.”
Through the production of episodic on-demand courses, podcasts, e-newsletters, community resource apps, livestream events and effective social media, the first CALLED cohort of evangelizers-and-evangelized used the native infrastructure we built to connect online as well as enjoy real world encounters that included: coast-to-coast weekend retreats, one-day workshops, courses, musical and parish events. The incredible success of this first iteration of CALLED set the stage for using our scalable infrastructure to apply our wrap around media approach to new Catholic Digital Missionaries and their audiences.
“(Digital media) is not simply a matter of generating content, but of creating an encounter between hearts...this will entail seeking out those who suffer and need to know the Lord, so that they may heal their wounds, get back on their feet and find meaning in their lives.”
