Our Programs
CALLED to Spiritually Renew the Church
The sudden loss of founder Fr. Mike Russo resulted in our having to discern the future of Sunday to Sunday Productions. At its core, Fr. Mike had built an Emmy Award winning faith media ministry dedicated to amplifying great preaching in all its varied forms. Our challenge was how to continue the legacy of inspiring and activating everyone’s preaching journey from clergy to minister to laity. That’s the torch that Father Mike inspired us to carry on.
Everyone’s spiritual journey is multifaceted. Interiorly, we face wounds, emotion, uncertainty, and an infinite landscape informed by both the goodness and ugliness of our daily lives. Exteriorly, we are made to be in a relationship with God through others, but that means navigating the messiness of interdependence. Preaching attends to both of these journeys. A contemplative stance affords us the opportunity to see, hear, and attune to God’s presence in a way that makes space for paying attention to God’s voice amidst the busy realities of our lives.
The result is CALLED, a virtual and in-person course and community dedicated to the fundamentals of preaching that Fr Mike demonstrated through his illustrative career. The Holy Spirit had its hand in being awarded our first grant from the Lilly Endowment Compelling Preaching Program, and its with great excitement that we kick off 2025 with four CALLED courses across the U.S.
To learn more about CALLED, please visit the program website www.preachingjourney.com or click below!
A Bit About CALLED
Our Mission
CALLED is a formation program that invites you to breathe—to pause long enough to remember who you are and who God made you to be. Through retreats, workshops, and online offerings, CALLED helps you rediscover the sacred rhythm of reflection, growth, and grace. It’s not about adding more to your life. It’s about creating space to become more alive to it.
At its heart, CALLED nurtures three movements of spiritual growth:
Embracing Second-Half-of-Life Living — opening yourself to new depth, wisdom, and authenticity when familiar answers no longer suffice.
Cultivating Radical Compassion — allowing mercy to begin within, so that your care for others flows from a place of presence and peace.
Telling Your Story — recognizing your lived experience as sacred ground, where God’s work in you becomes a source of hope for others.
CALLED is less about teaching and more about awakening—a way to live and serve that is grounded, compassionate, and true.
The Attentive Heart
The Attentive Heart is the core of CALLED’s mission—the spiritual posture that makes all growth possible. To live with an attentive heart is to notice the presence of God in the real and ordinary: in conversation, in conflict, in silence, in joy, in the ache of longing. It’s about learning to see with eyes of compassion and to listen with the whole self.
This awareness is cultivated through practice—through breath, stillness, listening, and gentleness with ourselves and others. It welcomes truth without fear and sees every moment, even the painful ones, as an opening to grace. The Attentive Heart allows us to live not from hurry or striving, but from depth.
“The first step toward finding God, who is truth, is to discover the truth about myself.” — Thomas Merton
When we live from an attentive heart, we find that formation is not something we deliver—it’s something we participate in. Our work, our relationships, and our daily lives become places where God’s presence can be noticed and shared. It’s an approach to living that transcends any single faith setting or profession; it belongs to all who seek meaning and wholeness.
What CALLED Offers
CALLED meets you where you are—whether you want to reflect in solitude, gather with others, or bring formation experiences to your own community. Each format draws from the same contemplative foundation: awareness, compassion, and shared story.
Retreats
Half-day and full-day experiences designed for renewal and reflection—offered in person and online.
Workshops
Interactive sessions that integrate spiritual practice with real-life application and shared learning.
Online Content
Courses, reflections, and podcasts that bring formation into the rhythm of daily life—accessible anytime.
Community
Opportunities to connect with others on the journey—through gatherings, cohorts, and shared projects.
Explore our retreats, browse upcoming workshops, or access our online resources.
Host a CALLED Experience
CALLED partners with schools, parishes, and organizations seeking to support the inner life of their communities. Hosting a retreat or workshop is a way to create space for renewal, reflection, and reconnection—to let your community breathe together again.
Each hosted event is adapted to the setting and needs of your group. Our team provides content, facilitation, and materials—your community provides the openness and hospitality.
To inquire about bringing CALLED to your setting, contact our team or visit www.calledcommunity.com for more information.
Research
Many studies have found that ineffective preaching is the main reason why people are either dissatisfied with church or have stopped going all together.
2022
Online Services Appeal to Americans, but Going in Person Remains More Popular
2011
Faith In Flux: Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S.
2023
This just in: Catholic churches have the worst preaching and music in the US
2022
Pope Francis and the Search for Solutions to the Bad Sermon Phenomenon
Resources
There are a good deal of recent books, articles, podcasts, and programs that are trying to make sense of the problem and offer examples of effective preaching.
PODCASTS
BOOKS
ARTICLES
Preachers
Clearly, good preachers do exist and dynamic faith-based communities can be found. Sunday to Sunday has explored and featured some of them.
On The Journey Documentary
On the Journey, is an immersive and intimate documentary about the St. Monica’s Catholic Community in Santa Monica, California. It profiles four parishioners who Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson’s pastoral leadership has inspired them into faith-in-action.
Sunday To Sunday Series
Sunday to Sunday is our Emmy-winning television series that takes you to dynamic Catholic parishes, nationwide, to see how their pastors and parishioners spread the Gospel and change lives. Discover parishes who are filled with the Holy Spirit and see how parishioners have heard the word of God through quality preaching and are in turn motivated to witness for Christ.
Sunday To Sunday Episodes
Pastor of Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Jamaica, Queens, NY
Pastor of the Nativity of Mary Church in San Luis Obispo,CA
The Dominican Preaching Team
Paulist priest, a liturgical composer, theologian, and author.
Pastor Emeritus of Saint Francis of Assisi Church in Incline Village, Nevada
University Chaplain, University of San Francisco
Pastor of Saint Raymond of Penafort, Philadelphia, PA
The late Rector and Dean of the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, CA
President Emeritus, Seton Hall University
Pastor of Church of the Presentation, Upper Saddle River, N.J.
Member of the Camaldolese Hermitage in Big Sur, CA
Former Pastor of Saint Perpetua Church in Lafayette, California
Latest News
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