Our Programs
CALLED to Preach the Gospel into Action
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 into action. Our challenge was how to continue the legacy of inspiring and activating everyone’s journey to effective preaching whether clergy or laity. That’s the torch Father Mike inspired us to carry on.
Everyone’s spiritual journey is multifaceted. Fortunately, the gift of digital media and technology has made it so almost anyone can find a voice that speaks to them exactly where they are. Pope Leo XIV calls these new evangelizers “digital missionaries” and it is those who we seek to serve, so they may serve others.
The range of Catholic Digital Missionaries is vast, each speaking to the multifaceted challenges of life, and all with the common goal of helping seekers to first look inward and find their Attentive Heart, then outwardly to use this heart as an opportunity to witness Christ in their everyday interactions - and inspire others to do the same.
Sunday to Sunday’s founder Fr Mike Russo believed media and technology encourages both the internal and external journey to preaching that activates.
The result is CALLED, a virtual and in-person community program and platform, led by a growing and diverse group of Catholic Digital Missionaries that Sunday to Sunday trains and equips, dedicated to the fundamentals of preaching that Fr Mike demonstrated through his illustrative career. Using all the tools of the digital realm, and data informed tracks that assure quality formation, CALLED has become a one of kind program and media platform that both supports the new voices of Catholic evangelism and nourishment for the formation of seekers, returners, those in the desert or ready for their deeper spiritual life. ie. the entire evangelization cycle.
So compelling this program, that the Holy Spirit had its hand in Sunday to Sunday Productions, in association with the Passionists, being awarded a five year grant from the Lilly Endowment Compelling Preaching Program,
To learn more about CALLED, please visit the program website www.preachingjourney.com or click below!
A Bit About CALLED
Our Mission
In February 2026, Pope Leo XIV recommended that Catholic media influencers, both priests and lay, be cognizant not to get too caught up in likes and followers at the expense of authentic faith connection. In a sentence, the Pope summed up the CALLED initiative - a media ministry dedicated to making the Gospel broadly available, but also leads to programs that deliver real world opportunities for authentic faith experiences and communion.
The mission of the CALLED program is to provide the all the tools and infrastructure necessary to both the evangelizer and the evangelized, so that they can convert digital introductions into real world communities of authentic relationship and solid formation.
In a sense, CALLED is a matchmaking program that pairs Catholic Digital Missionaries with their chosen audience, equipping them with the digital and real world tools for their faith journey. Through digital resources like podcasts, newsletters, apps, courses and live events, audiences begin a journey that leads to real world engagement through nationwide retreats, workshops, conferences and monthly meetings.
At its heart, CALLED nurtures three movements of spiritual growth:
Embracing Your Journey — identifying and amplifying informed voices that opens channels to new depth, wisdom, and authenticity when familiar answers no longer suffice.
Cultivating Radical Compassion — creating a common culture through the building of an Attentive Heart that allows mercy to begin within, so that your care for others flows from a place of presence and peace.
Telling Your Story — whether evangelizer or evangelized, recognizing your lived experience as sacred ground, where God’s work in you becomes a source of hope for others
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. Every voice in the diverse CALLED program ecosystem speaks to this root truth.
“The first step toward finding God, who is truth, is to discover the truth about myself.” — Thomas Merton
Like the Pope recommends, the invitation is not about numbers, its about using modern tools to foster authentic relationship. When we live from an attentive heart, we find that formation is not something we deliver—it’s something we participate in as a community. Our goal is for our work, our relationships, and our daily lives to 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.
Informed Voices
The invitation by a trusted messenger that speaks to every seeker from exactly where they are.
Online Content
Courses, reflections, and podcasts that bring formation into the rhythm of daily life—accessible anytime.
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.
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.
Have you been CALLED?
Sunday to Sunday Productions is always looking for Catholic Digital Missionaries who are passionate, clear in their voice, well informed and desire to grow an existing community. Whether a writer, speaker, influencer or producer, we are here to support through you with media, infrastructure, program strategy, marketing or distribution. Let’s talk.
Sunday to Sunday Productions also 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—led by your own, or one of our Catholic spiritual leaders.
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 CALLED, 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
2025
Can Behavioral Change Technology move people back to the Pews?
2023
Data supporting the US Catholic church’s need to improve preaching.
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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