Jesus places his finger in our wounds               

Our workshops present Gospel-centered principles, attitudes, and method that foster Positive Christian Dialog and Healing of Memories and comprise the essentials of Connect-Talk®.

The psychoeducational and catechetical workshops allow for healing of negative memories and experiences that every human being has experienced, encourage the development of your identity and friendship with yourself in who Jesus has made you to be, and help you connect in healing and positive ways with others. Read more about them on our Workshops Page.

Our Mission

To be "Connecting-Ports" for Jesus

Research-Based and Practice-Tested Application of Positive Christian Dialog™ and Healing of Memories Through Lectio Dialog™ 

Our founders developed this corpus of materials over more than 60 years at a high level of professional development in Scriptural exegesis, the Church Fathers, genetic (cause & effect) history, doctoral-level psychological practice, and applied pastoral theology. 

The evangelization component has also been tested across many different fields and has proved fruitful in parishes, retreats, jails, children and youth groups, parenting, adult faith formation, Bible study, prayer groups, leadership development, religious communities, and especially marriage healing. 

Its goal is to help people move beyond temporary groups, surface-level relationships, and isolated Christian living into stable, ongoing connections. In that kind of community, spouses learn to become true daily best friends, children begin to receive the love they are seeking, parish groups develop into safe and honest friendships where people can share more openly, and religious men and women form support groups marked by unconditional acceptance, mutual help, less triggering, and a culture committed to eliminating the negatives and inequalities, even though no one lives that perfectly all the time. 

This work is further supported by books and videos published by our ministry partner, Dialog International Press, LLC. 

What We Do

• Workshops, books, and videos that teach and model Connect‑Talk® / Positive Christian Dialog (PCD), as well as structured sharing groups—whether a marital dyad or a small group—that provide guardrails to create emotional safety and protect vulnerability.

• Expert workshops and formation experiences that give participants practical tools to pass on and foster affirmative attitudes through which people experience being seen, heard, and validated in a way that aims to protect against rejection, keep things positive, and promote equality and commitment as friends.   

• Leaders are also trained in containment techniques and de-escalation strategies.

• Replicable formation that can be implemented by trainees in their homes, parishes, convents, and religious communities. Priests can create follow-up Lectio Dialog sharing groups in their parishes and even in their religious communities, according to our specific research-based techniques that have been piloted over the past 60 years in the founders’ development and in private psychological practice.

• Workshop-based resources designed for duplication and careful expansion as local leaders become equipped, so the work can go forward even without workshops.

• Refresher workshops and continuing formation for Scripture-based sharing groups and Franciscan-style Lectio Dialog communities centered on the Books of John, offered for a set fee. 

Notice of Racially Nondiscriminatory Policy as to Students: Portiuncula Oratory, Inc. admits students of any race, color, national origin, and ethnic origin and does not discriminate on that basis in its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship or financial assistance programs, or other school-administered programs.