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.

YOur 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.

• Refresher workshops and certificate-level training at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels for Connect-Talk® Dialog. 

• Expert workshops and biblical catechesis that give participants practical tools to pass on and practice 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 teaching model 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.

• Providing resources designed for implementation in parishes, Christian organizations, and businesses. 

• Franciscan-style Lectio Dialog communities centered on the Books of John. 

Our Father’s House — Oshkosh 

Lectio Dialog Prayer — Sundays at 3 PM

The Oratory, Washington Ave. & Rosalia St. at the Stations of the Cross, Station #1

Teaching and example on how to listen to Jesus speak to you personally in Sacred Scripture through Lectio Dialog.

All are welcome. Come, saint and sinner, rich or poor alike, any color and any nationality, religion or background, for Our Father’s House is a hospital for souls and we all need Him.

With grateful appreciation for the donation by "BannerBuzz" for our meeting banner.

Recent Mission Activity

Stations of the Cross at our Oshkosh Center

Fourteen Stations of the Cross have been erected along Rosalia Avenue at the Oratory in Oshkosh and blessed by Fr. Louis Golamari. The Stations provide a permanent public witness to the Passion of Jesus Christ for those passing the property as well as for those who come to the Oratory.

Even the building of the Stations has provided opportunities for personal contact and prayer. One of the young men who helped erect them subsequently undertook a vocational discernment retreat.

Christian Hospitality During EAA AirVenture

Everyday Evangelization

Portiuncula Oratory's evangelizing work is not limited to scheduled programs. Dialogic witnessing also takes place through ordinary encounters—with guests, neighbors, people met on the bike path, in stores and offices, and wherever natural opportunities arise to listen, connect, and speak about Jesus Christ.

The approach begins by naturally becoming interested in what is going on around one, as Jesus Himself did: listening and responding to the person, allowing genuine questions and experiences to emerge, and witnessing naturally to the place Jesus Christ and the Gospel have in one’s own life. 

Workshop and Formation Development

Portiuncula Oratory is developing the structure through which its Jesus-centered formation will be taught and reproduced: introductory presentations, full workshops, Lectio Dialog groups, ongoing Christian Dialog formation, and eventual preparation of others who can carry the work into their own ministries and spheres of influence.

The Oratory draws upon educational content developed through Jesus-Centered Institute, LLC and published resources of Dialog International Press, LLC while concentrating its own work on training and delivery.

These activities serve one continuing purpose: to help people encounter Jesus Christ personally, listen to Him in Scripture, learn genuine Christian Dialog with one another, and become capable of witnessing Him naturally to others, following Jesus’ own way of encountering people. 

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.