“Let’s just say he’s doing a lot of things he couldn’t do a few days ago,” Barb Macaulay told the Kamloops Daily News.

Macaulay and her sister Margaret Taddei have been overwhelmed by the support of the parish community and the Kamloops diocese, but have been turning away visitors to allow their brother time for rest and recovery.

“We appreciate their attachment up here, but there will be a time when visits will be beneficial to his recovery,” Taddei said.

In a release from the diocese, the sisters thanked all those who are “facilitating the recovery” of their brother, saying they “feel strong confidence in the quality of care that our brother will continue to receive.” And they thanked people from across the continent for their “outpouring of compassion and prayers.”

“Please know that the bishop is making daily progress, which is welcome and positive news.”

The sisters also expressed compassion for their brother’s alleged attacker, John Bandura, 30, and his family, acknowledging the difficulties they have been going through with their son.

“I know how powerless they feel and how hard it is on them,” Macaulay said.

“I am the mother of a son about the same age,” she told the Kamloops Daily News. “I can imagine how his mom and dad must be suffering.”

It is thought that Bandura has mental issues that may have contributed to the attack. On the evening of the assault, Bandura, accompanied by family members, admitted himself to Royal Inland Hospital. But he left the hospital not long after being admitted, breaking a window on his way out, which led to a call to police. Just over an hour later police learned of the assault on Monroe. Bandura was arrested at 1 a.m. Oct. 23.