CATHERINE McAULEY, A YOUNG IRISH WOMAN, HAD BEEN GREATLY MOVED BY THE PLIGHT OF THE POOR AND DISADVANTAGED SHE SAW AROUND HER IN 19th CENTURY IRELAND AND WHEN HER FOSTER PARENTS DIED SHE USED THEIR LEGACY TO OPEN THE FIRST HOUSE OF MERCY IN BAGGOT ST IN DUBLIN TO PROVIDE AND CARE FOR THEM. A NUMBER OF COMPANIONS JOINED HER IN HER WORK AND AFTER MUCH PRAYER AND DEBATE AND WITH THE ADVICE OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN SHE AGREED TO THE FOUNDING OF AN ORDER TO EXPAND AND CARRY ON HER WORK. IN 1831 SHE AND TWO COMPANIONS TOOK RELIGIOUS VOWS AS THE FIRST MEMBERS OF THE SISTERS OF MERCY. THEY TOOK THEIR NAME FROM OUR LADY OF MERCY, THE PATRON CHOSEN BY CATHERINE, AND DEVOTED THEMSELVES TO THE NEEDY. CATHERINE'S VISION STRUCK A CHORD WITH THE TIMES AND THE ORDER RAPIDLY EXPANDED IN BOTH IRELAND AND ENGLAND AND SOON WAS SENDING SISTERS OVERSEAS TO BEGIN NEW FOUNDATIONS.

THE FIRST MERCY SISTERS TO ARRIVE IN AUSTRALIA LANDED IN PERTH JUST 15 YEARS AFTER THE FOUNDATION OF THE ORDER AND WERE THUS ONE OF THE FIRST FEMALE ORDERS TO RESPOND TO THE NEEDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN CHURCH. OVER THE NEXT FIFTY YEARS FOUNDATIONS CONTINUED TO BE MADE BOTH FROM IRELAND AND FROM WITHIN AUSTRALIA. SISTERS OF MERCY COULD BE FOUND IN VIRTUALLY EVERY DIOCESE IN AUSTRALIA AND CAN THEREFORE LAY CLAIM TO HAVING CONTRIBUTED MORE TO THE AUSTRALIAN CHURCH THAN ANY OTHER SINGLE ORDER OF RELIGIOUS. IN KEEPING WITH CATHERINE McAULEY'S VISION THEY FOCUSED ON EDUCATION, BUT ALSO PROVIDED VISITATION TO THE SICK, HOSPITALS AND CARE OF THE ORPHANED IN MANY AUSTRALIAN TOWNS. DESPITE A DECLINE IN VOCATIONS IN THE LATER YEARS OF THE 20th CENTURY, THE WORK OF CATHERINE McAULEY CONTINUES TODAY IN MANY DIFFERENT WAYS AS THE SISTERS CONTINUE TO RESPOND TO THEIR FOUNDER'S VISION.

IT WAS MOTHER CATHERINE McAULEY'S INTENTION THAT HER SISTERS SHOULD BE FREE TO ADAPT TO THE NEEDS OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY IN WHICH THEY WORKED SO EACH FOUNDATION WAS GIVEN LOCAL AUTONOMY, ALTHOUGH BRANCH CONVENTS WERE NOT UNKNOWN EVEN IN CATHERINE'S DAY. THE VARIOUS FOUNDATIONS IN AUSTRALIA IN GENERAL FOLLOWED THIS PATTERN FORMING AUTONOMOUS CONGREGATIONS IN AND SOMETIMES WITHIN EACH DIOCESE. AT THE SAME TIME SOME CONGREGATIONS PROVED TOO SMALL TO BE VIABLE AND AMALGAMATED WITH LARGER CONGREGATIONS. THUS A CONSTANT PROCESS OF DIVISION AND AMALGAMATION OCCURRED THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER IN AUSTRALIA UNTIL BY THE MID-20th CENTURY THEY HAD SETTLED INTO 17 AUTONOMOUS CONGREGATIONS. IN 1954 EIGHT OF THE CONGREGATIONS AGREED TO FORM THE AUSTRALIAN UNION OF THE SISTERS OF MERCY WITH A SINGLE SUPERIOR-GENERAL AND COUNCIL LOCATED IN CANBERRA. THE REMAINING NINE CONGREGATIONS FORMED THE AUSTRALIAN FEDERATION OF THE SISTERS OF MERCY, A LOOSER GROUPING THAN THE UNION. IN 1981 BOTH GROUPS DISSOLVED AND ALL THE CONGREGATIONS AGREED TO COME TOGETHER IN A NEW INSTITUTE OF THE SISTERS OF MERCY OF AUSTRALIA, WITH EACH CONGREGATION MAINTAINING ITS INDEPENDANCE WHILE WORKING TOGETHER IN UNITY.

ADELAIDE CONGREGATION

BALLARAT EAST CONGREGATION

BATHURST CONGREGATION

BRISBANE CONGREGATION

CAIRNS CONGREGATION

GOULBURN CONGREGATION

GRAFTON CONGREGATION

GUNNEDAH CONGREGATION

MELBOURNE CONGREGATION

NORTH SYDNEY CONGREGATION

PARRAMATTA CONGREGATION

PERTH CONGREGATION

ROCKHAMPTON CONGREGATION

SINGLETON CONGREGATION

TOWNSVILLE CONGREGATION

WEST PERTH CONGREGATION

WILCANNIA-FORBES
CONGREGATION