Catherine McAuley establishes the first House of Mercy
Catherine McAuley established the first House of Mercy in Ireland in 1827 to serve the needs of homeless and abused young women who came from the farms of Ireland to work in Dublin, and children who lived in Dublin's slums. In 1831, Catherine founded the Sisters of Mercy as a new congregation of religious women in Dublin. The first United States mission was opened in 1843 in Pittsburgh. During the Civil War, three Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy from Charleston, South Carolina journeyed to Wilmington, North Carolina to nurse victims of yellow fever; joined by others, these Sisters eventually traveled to Belmont, North Carolina to open an academy for girls. They became affiliated with the Sisters of Mercy in 1913. In due course Belmont became the Motherhouse for the Sisters of Mercy of North Carolina, one of the 25 regional communities that now comprise the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas.

Sisters of Mercy arrive in Asheville
In the late 1800s, the Sisters of Mercy came to Asheville to open a school; they stayed for one year. In 1900, three Sisters returned to Asheville from Belmont to open an 18-bed tuberculosis sanatorium on French Broad Avenue. Thus began a 100-year presence of the Sisters in Western North Carolina that continues today.

St. Joseph’s Hospital established
The tuberculosis sanatorium was expanded several times, eventually moving to Biltmore Avenue where St. Joseph's Hospital stands today. In 1938, St. Joseph's Sanatorium was converted to a general medical hospital with a bed capacity of 110. Over the next 60 years, St. Joseph's Hospital continued to grow and prosper. However, after several years of negotiating, the Sisters of Mercy finalized the sale of St. Joseph's Hospital to Memorial Mission Medical Center on October 28, 1998, thus creating the Mission St. Joseph's Health System. As part of the agreement, the Sisters retained ownership of Sisters of Mercy Services Corporation, which oversees the operations of Sisters of Mercy Urgent Care, Inc., Mountain Health Services, Inc., Mountain Health Contracting Services, Inc. and McAuley Foundation, Inc.

Sisters of Mercy begins second century of service in Western North Carolina
Over the years, many Sisters served the people of Western North Carolina at St. Joseph's Hospital, in schools, and in a number of other ministries. Today, three Sisters still reside in the convent on Biltmore Avenue and remain active in the local community, with a continued emphasis on health care. Sister Maria Goretti Weldon currently serves as the Mission and Values Advocate for Sisters of Mercy Services Corporation. Besides promoting the mission and values of the Sisters of Mercy throughout the organization, she visits and offers spiritual support on an ongoing basis to staff, patients, inmates and juvenile offenders who might not receive such compassion and care otherwise.

Last year approximately 250,000 patient visits/encounters took place at Sisters of Mercy Services Corporation healthcare facilities in North Carolina.

Three Sisters of Mercy Urgent Care Centers provide evaluation and treatment of non-life-threatening injuries and illnesses to the men, women and children of the region regardless of their ability to pay. The Urgent Care centers serve more people than any other facility of their type in Western North Carolina, with over 60,000 patient visits last year. In keeping with the Sisters' vow to serve those who suffer poverty and sickness, approximately 50 percent of Urgent Care patients received treatment for reduced fees or free of charge. In addition, comprehensive, continuing medical care is now available to individuals and families by the family practice physicians at Mercy Family Care North.

Sisters of Mercy physicians and nurses take health care into the workplace and correctional institutions through Health Designs, their occupational medicine division. Health Designs engaged in over 160,000 occupational patient interactions last year, serving over 1,250 businesses and industries as well as inmates and offenders at local jails and juvenile detention centers. The need for compassionate, respectful medical care and the devotion to the values of the Sisters of Mercy provides the primary motivation for Health Designs involvement in these activities.

ARP/Phoenix, the Sisters' substance abuse and behavioral health program, ministered to over 7,000 patients and provided over 90,000 services in over 30 counties in North Carolina in 2006. Through individual and group counseling, education programs, information dissemination, and community building work, ARP/Phoenix helps individuals, families, and communities lead healthier and more fulfilling lives.

The Sisters of Mercy have recently concluded a century of service among the people of Western North Carolina. And now they have embarked on a new era, a second century in which they continue to minister to those in need in accordance with their values--sacredness of life, human dignity, mercy, justice, service and excellence.

For more information about the Sisters of Mercy, please contact Sister Maria Goretti Weldon at 828-281-1357.

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