Every day across the Diocese of Parramatta, counsellors with Catholic Care Western Sydney and the Blue Mountains walk beside people carrying the weight of grief and loss, helping them find hope, strength and healing through life’s most difficult moments.

For Harrison Porter, that means meeting people where they are: a young man paralysed by the loss of his father, a mother mourning a fractured relationship, or a child feeling guilty for the pain her illness causes her parents.

Much of Harrison’s role, he said, is simply “sitting with someone’s pain.”

This is the life-changing support Catholic Care’s counsellors provide to people in our community, made possible through your kind and compassionate help.

By donating to the Bishop’s Christmas Appeal 2025, you will help support counsellors like Harrison to continue their ministry of healing with wisdom, compassion, and a heart for Christian service.

Read more in Catholic Outlook