The international symbol of the Sisters of Mercy is the Mercy Cross.

The charism of the Sisters of Mercy can be described as "aspiring to live the gospel with other women in the Church, devoted to the works of Catherine McAuley". Initially, Catherine’s focus was on education of girls and assisting women in need. Quite soon this widened to meeting emerging needs in society and Church e.g. the Irish cholera epidemic in the 1840s, nursing with Florence Nightingale in the Crimea. The Sisters first came to Australia settling in Perth in 1846 where they educated and cared for Irish immigrants.

The Sisters on profession make the vows of chastity, poverty, obedience and the service of the poor, sick and ignorant.

Nine Sisters from Callan (Co. Kilkenny, Ireland) led by Mother M Clare Dunphy arrived in Parramatta on December 8^th, 1888 at the invitation of Cardinal Moran to work in the schools of the Archdiocese of Sydney. On the day after their arrival, they commenced visitation of the sick and poor of the area and the following day took over the parish school with fifty-five pupils. A secondary school for girls was opened in January 1889 with seven pupils. It is now called Our Lady of Mercy College with about 950 students. Throughout the past 109 years, the Sisters have worked in Sydney in schools, orphanages and in parish visitation. In the past 20 years, their work has expanded to other social needs such as care of the aged, work with women in crisis, with migrants, with childcare, with the unemployed and in counselling. They work as pastoral associates in schools, hospitals and parishes.

The early Sisters faced many adjustments to their new country, especially its summer heat and mosquitoes. Most were speedily overcome, but lack of money remained a problem, increased by their growing commitments. By 1911, they had 6 convents and were operating 12 primary and 4 secondary schools and 2 orphanages; by the 1950s, they had schools in 27 parishes. In the days before State Aid, the extra task of fundraising for themselves, their orphans and schools added to their normal teaching load, with much added stress. They had large classes, little resources and no ancillary staff and the monastic life-style and timetable had to be fitted in as well! In most parishes before 1920, the school had to be transformed by the Sisters into the parish Mass centre for Sundays and reassembled by Monday as a school. Convent chronicles of the time show that such hardships were cheerfully accepted, and indeed made into occasions for community bonding and, often hilarity.

The early Sisters left to their successors a healthy network of schools, with traditions of academic and especially musical excellence, a body of ex-students with an active sense of justice who formed families to be a stable force in the Church. But their greatest bequest was in passing on the tradition of generosity and commitment to the love and service of the poor and the disadvantaged.

Further Suggested Reading:

McGrath, Madeleine Sophie These women: Sisters of Mercy Parramatta 1888-1988 Sydney: NSW UP, 1989

If further information is required about individual Sisters the following address is given:

The Archivist

Parramatta Congregation Sisters of Mercy

P.O. Box 2012

PARRAMATTA NSW 2012

In writing to the Archivist, it would be appropriate that a financial contribution be made for the Archivist’s time and expertise.

Religious Orders or Congregations have released the details on their members. It is understood that the copyright of any material (including the listing of the names of the Sisters) relevant to a particular Order or Congregation in this publication remains with the relevant Order or Congregation.