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Lockdown need not equal breakdown. Marriages and relationships are under stress from the vastly ramped-up pressures of the COVID-19 crisis, but help is at hand. People feeling the pinch are certainly not alone. Specialists in Australia and around the world report sharp spikes in the number of people experiencing relationship and mental health problems as…

In a year which began with catastrophic bushfires and moved straight into the socially isolating effects of the COVID-19 virus, the need for a caring presence to help people with mental health challenges has never been greater, says retiring CatholicCare mental health chaplain Sue Robertson. Sue, not just a qualified and registered lay chaplain but…

At a time when coronavirus is keeping people apart, a church counselling service is bringing people together – virtually. The move to online counselling has been so well received, the Diocese of Parramatta CatholicCare’s could introduce video services permanently. Executive Director for CatholicCare Western Sydney and the Blue Mountains Peter Loughnane said video contact was…

Thanks to a very generous donation from the Irish Famine Memorial Committee, a new program to help refugee families will begin later this year in Blacktown. Project Afriq will provide a space of safety and trust in which African and particularly Sudanese women can explore issues of parenting in a new culture. The members of…

Just as the retail sector does not whip up the same shopping frenzy for Easter as it does for Christmas, so many Catholics do get as excited about Easter as they do about Christmas. Why is this? After all Easter is the biggest feast in Christianity so why the difference. Is it because it is…

Wednesday 17 April 2019 is Youth Homelessness Matters Day. 28,000 young people between the ages of 12-24 will be homeless tonight in Australia. All over Australia, every single day, there are young people sleeping in their cars, on friends’ couches or finding shelter with family because they have no where else to go. For more…

CatholicCare is delighted to welcome Philip Coller to the position of Head of Social Services Operations. Philip will take up his role in early April. He comes to CatholicCare from an extensive career in social services in the not-for-profit sector, having held the posts of CEO and Assistant Director in other organisations. We are pleased…

In 2019 we will begin to participate in the Community Visitors Scheme (CVS) operated by the Commonwealth Government. The aim of the scheme is to reduce loneliness experienced by many elderly people and help them feel included in their local community. In this scheme volunteers visit people in their homes or visit people who are…

“A smile goes a long way to warm someone’s heart,” says Don Standley, who, six days a week, starts his day the same way. By 6.30am, summer and winter, he has left his house in the Sydney suburb of Doonside and is at the home of the same local elderly resident. As a volunteer with…

Family Relationship Services were invited to run the Bringing Up Great Kids parenting course at Hilltop Public School in Merrylands this year. Ruby Chan and Nassi Tofigh are shown here with second parenting group run at Hilltop in August 2018. One of the volunteers brought the sun hats for everyone to wear. The  following feedback…