The Mercy Tradition in Education

The decision to send a child to a Catholic school is a choice to immerse that child more deeply in the great Christian story and, in so doing, to offer him or her the context for the development of a strong cultural entity.

Mercy is central to the Christian story and, when mercy describes the particular characteristic or identity of a school, it does so in relation to an understanding of God as merciful. It is also named in connection with the educational endeavours of the Sisters of Mercy, a group of women who have an historic commitment to the expression of mercy in their schools. Students at Mercy schools can be invited into a lively and rich educational culture which they share with a long line of other women and men who have been educated in the Mercy tradition.

Today, those associated with this tradition of the Sisters of Mercy, are the inheritors of the legacy of the vision and practice of Catherine McAuley. To work in Mercy secondary education in Victoria today is to share a common commitment to this vision.