Be a Pilgrim of Hope for people who may break in the face of suffering
Catholic Care Western Sydney and the Blue Mountains’ chaplains bring Christ’s mercy and compassion to those in need. In prisons, they offer support through conversations, liturgies, and the Eucharist. In hospitals, they provide comfort and hope to children and their families through faith and prayer.
Your tax-deductible donation will help them bear signs of hope for our distressed brothers and sisters seeking forgiveness and healing.
can provide rosary beads and the gift of prayer to people in prisons and hospitals.
can provide pastoral care to people suffering in prisons and hospitals.
Your gift brings comfort, faith, and hope where it is needed most.
“Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” – Romans 5:5
“I just felt there was a need to be out in the brokenness.”
Richard Korkor pivoted from a 15-year career in investment banking to answer God’s call to “be out in the world where the mess is.” Now a Catholic Care chaplain at Parklea Correctional Centre in Western Sydney, his vocation is not your typical line of work. It’s a ministry of profound human encounter with the compassionate face of Jesus.
“You see Christ in everyone, and everyone has a role in that place. Even through the brokenness,” Richard says.
“The dark pools of trauma within our prisons are enormous. And we are able to be little beacons of light.”
Chaplains like Richard bring healing and hope to isolated people experiencing pain and suffering in hospitals and prisons. And they need your compassionate support.
“There’s such a big need for pastoral care in hospital… I can be present for those experiencing pain, suffering, fragility, and heartbreak.”
At The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Catholic Care’s hospital chaplain, Joseph Wehbe, describes his ministry as a mission.
“A lot of people ask me, ‘What do you do for your job?’ And I tell them, ‘I don’t have a job. I have a mission’.”
“I’m an instrument of God in this place. Everything I do here is what He does through me.”
Joseph’s mission has brought him face-to-face with a range of raw emotions, including grief. In the face of emergencies, serious accidents and illnesses and death, he provides emotional and spiritual support by being present for children and their families.
“We’re able to be present, to be the hands and feet of Christ and to provide prayer, to provide emotional and spiritual support… Because at times, patients don’t have family or carers.”
In this Holy Year of Jubilee in our Catholic Church, Pope Francis invites us all to let “the light of Christian hope illumine every man and woman, as a message of God’s love addressed to all!”
The Holy Father’s call is particularly important to those living on the margins in difficult places. In our prisons and hospitals, feelings of frailty, loneliness, and social isolation abound. Our social welfare agency, Catholic Care Western Sydney and the Blue Mountains, offers chaplaincy services in these places of brokenness and suffering to provide spiritual and emotional support and share the healing power of God.
With Christian companionship and love, may we each be signs of hope for our brothers and sisters in their time of need.
Thank you for your compassionate gift and prayerful support.
Peace in Christ.
Very Rev Luis Fernando Montano Rodriguez
Vicar General, Episcopal Vicar for Social Welfare, Catholic Care Western Sydney and the Blue Mountains Advisory Council Member.
Thank you for helping Catholic Care’s chaplains bring comfort, faith and hope to people enduring pain and suffering.
REFUND INFORMATION & PRIVACY POLICY
If you are seeking a refund for your donation, please contact the Parramatta Catholic Foundation office via phone or email. Please note any approved refunds will be credited to the credit card used for the original transaction.
