Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli (Assisi), home of the Portiuncula chapel where St. Francis began his mission.

The Spirit Behind the Work

Romy, Professor Emeritus Romuald B. Simeone, would often state his identity in this way: “I am God’s magnificent Failure.” In the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi, we also reflect: Who are You, God, and who am I?

In modern terms, Dr. Chiara states: Romy and I do not have the most books published, the highest YouTube ratings, the most followers, or the most degrees. We are like little pea-brained ants, running about our business, while this amazing God, so far beyond us, stoops down to love us and raise us up to participate in His family life of Father, Son, and Spirit.

Listening to the Lord takes many efforts on His part to get through to us. So Romy’s description is quite fitting, and I like it. In fact, it helps us all be real and look safely and openly at our hurts, our blessings, and our failures.

That is an awesome experience we can relish, because it is Jesus we promote, not ourselves. These are His disciples we train, not ours. As Professor Simeone quipped: “Jesus can’t be ‘taught’; He must be passed on.”

Our Story

Portiuncula Oratory’s formation resources were developed and refined over decades with a consistent focus: formation must lead to real interior and relational change—not merely instruction.

In the early 1970s, Professor Romuald B. Simeone developed Positive Christian Dialog (PCD) and began teaching the workshop curriculum (c. 1972). Dr. Chiara Simeone-DiFrancesco joined the workshop team in 1974.

Together they expanded these workshops into a coherent, Jesus-centered pathway of Scripture-based listening to the Lord, relational skill training, and inner healing—including Healing of Memories workshops, The Real Jesus Christ workshops, and evangelization experience that ranged from reconciling families to beach outreach.

Over time, their Connect-Talk® teaching (including “Connect-Talk with Jesus”) was implemented in professional formation settings as well as ministry. Portions were integrated into Couples Schema Therapy certification training through the International Society of Schema Therapy, and Dr. Simeone-DiFrancesco co-authored Schema Therapy with Couples: A Practitioner’s Guide to Healing Relationships (Wiley-Blackwell), the first couples text in that field. Connect-Talk® continues to be a stable component of therapist formation, including the teaching on Need(s) versus Want(s).

Portiuncula Oratory, Inc. is the first major relaunch of this workshop curriculum with the full incorporation of a psychologically sophisticated understanding of the human person, the effects of trauma, and the creation of early maladaptive schemas—so participants learn Connect-Talk® / Positive Christian Dialog (PCD) skills that remain stable even when emotionally triggered, and communion is protected rather than repeatedly lost.

These teachings are now being preserved and passed on through a workshop model designed for careful duplication, sustainability, and long-term fidelity.

Portiuncula Oratory, Inc. is a nonprofit apostolate; it is not an Oratorian (St. Philip Neri) community and is not claiming a canonically erected “oratory” as a designated place of public worship.

About Portiuncula Oratory Today

Portiuncula Oratory, Inc. is an emerging Catholic-based nonprofit adult religious education school of Jesus-centered healing and dialog. It is currently in a season of structural development and mission advancement. While our organizational infrastructure is still being built, the underlying materials and programs have been formed over 50+ years of intense study, prayer, application, and writing.

We are now creating the organization’s internal framework as we prepare to launch, including the final completion of a few remaining books that will serve as core resources for this apostolate.

We are also seeking partners in ministry and leadership as we prepare for the grant-writing stage. For now, the public launch of the Workshop initiative is being held off until these final elements are in place.

Boundaries of Operation

We operate as a formation and teaching initiative, not as a psychotherapy clinic. When appropriate, participants are encouraged to seek professional clinical care in their local area, including priestly spiritual direction.

Portiuncula inside of the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli (Assisi)

Why the name Portiuncula Oratory?

Portiuncula Oratory takes its name from the Porziuncola (Portiuncula), the tiny chapel near Assisi, Italy, where St. Francis repaired a forgotten little church and where the Franciscan movement took root. The corporation, Portiuncula Oratory, Inc., was established on January 31, 2026, in honor of the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi, in which every Christian, as Pope Leo has announced, “following the example of the Saint of Assisi, may himself become a model of holiness of life and a constant witness of peace.”

In particular, we chose this name to appeal to our Holy Mother Mary, the perfect image of Jesus, to help and inspire us and all who come to us. The chapel’s Marian dedication is commonly rendered “Our Lady of the Angels” (Santa Maria degli Angeli), after which the city of Los Angeles was named. The larger shrine that now encloses the chapel is known as the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Porziuncola.

Porziuncola means “little portion.” This name expresses the Franciscan conviction that Jesus chooses small, humble hidden places to pour out great grace.

Our name also honors the Franciscan tradition of praying Scripture (Lectio Divina) without gloss as interpreted by the Holy Father (Magisterium)—a stream carried in a special way that has long nourished daily ongoing conversion from the seven capital sins to virtue.

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