Compassion and Good Counsel

In today’s world, compassion can feel like a buzzword—spoken often but rarely lived. But for Christians, compassion isn’t just a sentiment. It’s a mission. It’s rooted deeply in our faith and history. The very word comes from the Latin com(“with”) and passio (“to suffer”)—meaning to suffer with. Early Christians embraced this idea, reflecting Christ’s own willingness to suffer with and for us. Compassion implies action.

As Ven. Fulton Sheen wrote, “The cross is not something to be merely admired—it must be lived.” That is the kind of compassion we are called to.

Pope Leo XIII once reflected that the trials of life—poverty, betrayal, abandonment—can strip a person of everything, leaving them vulnerable and exposed, like the man lying on the road in the parable of the Good Samaritan. But Pope Leo reminds us: we cannot stay at a distance. If we follow Christ, we are called to get close. To risk comfort. To act, even when it’s messy.

That’s the foundation of Good Counsel Homes. Founded in the summer of 1985—the same summer Huey Lewis and the News were singing about “The Power of Love”—Good Counsel began with a radical belief: No woman facing an unexpected pregnancy should have to walk alone. Real love does something. It shows up. It helps carry the weight.

Sheila from Pennsylvania knows this firsthand. Abandoned by the father of her recently conceived baby—who also left her with a three-year-old autistic child—she found herself facing the unthinkable. Child Protective Services told her that, without stable housing, they would take her son away. Alone and desperate, Sheila reached out to Good Counsel’s 24/7 helpline.

What she found wasn’t just shelter. It was compassion. It was people willing to step into her suffering. People who didn’t stay at a distance.

In the words of the still-popular 1985 anthem:

Tougher than diamonds, rich like cream
Stronger and harder than a bad girl's dream
Make a bad one good, make a wrong one right
The power of love that keeps you home at night…
And with a little help from above
You feel the power of love… Can you feel it?

That’s the kind of love we believe in. The kind that transforms pain into purpose. The kind that sees Christ in every struggling mother and every unborn child. The kind that says: You are not alone.

Let us continue to walk with every mother in need. Let us be the Good Samaritan. Let us live the power of love.

Thank you for supporting Good Counsel Homes. Your prayers and generosity help us live out true compassion—suffering with, serving with, and loving with the heart of Christ.

May God bless you for your life-giving support.

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