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Sisters of Mercy of the Americas

The Sisters of Mercy is a religious community involved in the mission of the church in the world. Chartered by the Roman Catholic Church, they vow to serve the poor, the sick, the terminally ill, and the uneducated.

The special talent, or charism, of the Sisters of Mercy is based on the example of Catherine McAuley, their foundress, who served the needy with courage and compassion, with a special concern for women. Responsive in faith to God's mercy, Catherine McAuley heeded the call of Jesus to reach out with courage and love to those in need.

How They Developed and Why

The Sisters of Mercy was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland. Catherine McAuley, an Irish aristocrat, used her fortune to serve the poor, especially women and children. In Ireland at the time, oppressed Catholics lived in squalor in disease-ridden slums. When Catherine McAuley began her work in 1828, she intended a corps of Catholic Social workers recruited from Dublin's elite. Church authorities, however, persuaded her to establish a religious order that would continue her work after death. Before she died, Catherine established twelve Mercy Foundations throughout Ireland and two in England. During the mid-19th Century, when millions of laborers and their families emigrated to the United States, Sisters of Mercy were asked to follow them to nurse and teach in the poor communities that sprang up around factories and mines.

Sister Frances Ward was 33 years old when she and seven sisters traveled to Pittsburgh in the winter of 1846 to establish the first Mercy congregation. According to the congregation's archives, she personally founded more convents, schools, hospitals, and institutions of social welfare than any other religious leader in the Western world.

In 1854, the Sisters of Mercy from Ireland had settled in New York, Pittsburgh and San Francisco, and from these cities moved throughout the United States. The name of Mercy was linked with the Church's mission to care for the poor, the sick, and the uneducated.

During this century, U.S. congregations started establishing missions or developing ties with other Sisters of Mercy in the Latin American/Caribbean region. This movement gained strength and further engaged Sisters of Mercy in a global community.

In 1965, all of the Mercy congregations in the United States became aligned within a federation. This federation facilitated communication and common goal-setting and evolved into the new institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. Today, almost 16,000 sisters belong to the twenty-five Mercy congregations.

What They Have Done

Sisters of Mercy enroll nearly 20,000 students in 40 secondary schools which they sponsor in the United States and Guam. They sponsor 18 colleges where more than 35,000 students are enrolled, and have graduated more than 120,000 students from Mercy colleges since the funding of the first Mercy Academy in Pittsburgh in 1929. They sponsor 128 health care facilities in 109 cities, making them a leading health care provider in the United States. They provide emergency shelters, food banks and soup kitchens for the poor, and provide financial support, technical assistance, and management for low income housing. In addition, Sisters of Mercy help battered women, children, pregnant teens, persons with AIDS, the chemically dependant and those in prison.

Catherine McAuley, also known as Mother McAuley, began a mission which continues to animate the institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, as a religious institute of pontifical right dedicated to the works of the Apostolate.

The Sisters of Mercy seek to relieve misery, to address its causes and to support all persons who struggle for dignity.

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