Announcement from the Sisters of Mercy Parramatta

Announcement from the Sisters of Mercy Parramatta

In late July 2021, it was announced that the Sisters of Mercy of the Parramatta Congregation have unanimously chosen Mercy Partners to protect the custodianship and continuity of OLMC into the future. Here below is the announcement from Sister Mary Louise Petro, Congregation Leader of the Sisters of Mercy Parramatta, Ms Kerrie Walshaw, OLMC Board Chair and Ms Lucie Farrugia, Principal OLMC Parramatta:

"Passing the significant 130-year anniversary milestone caused the Sisters to reflect on the next 130 years – how to capture the current strengths of the College and the Mercy tradition, and match that with contemporary, well-resourced governance into a future beyond the Sisters themselves.

Mercy Partners is a legal entity which exists to preserve the Catholicity of its entities – in our case that is the Mercy heritage.  Mercy Partners holds a range of ministries including five secondary schools (2 Mercy being All Hallows’ School in Brisbane and St Patricks College in Townsville, 1 Franciscan and 2 Presentation), a number of aged care and health facilities, and community services.

We were delighted to see that all schools under their custodianship are flourishing and have every confidence that OLMC will continue to go from strength-to-strength.

For us, this is a structural and governance change and not one that will have any substantial impact on the day-to-day operations of the College. 

The College will retain its independent Board and continue to determine its own staffing and student arrangements, and relationships with groups such as parents, the P&F and College Alumnae.  Further, the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy Parramatta will become a member of Mercy Partners and the Sisters will continue to hold interest in the College. 

The transfer to Mercy Partners will occur on 17 October this year and, being such an important step in the history of the College, we will mark the occasion with a fitting ritual at that time.

The Sisters of Mercy Parramatta are incredibly proud of what has been achieved at OLMC, their first ministry, and it is with optimism and confidence that they decided to entrust Mercy Partners to transition the College into its next era.

We are sure those sentiments are shared by the OLMC community and we thank you for your ongoing support and passion for what we have, and what we will continue to achieve, for all our girls in the Mercy tradition."