Sisters of Charity RSC

Mary Aikenhead began the congregation in Dublin in 1815 to serve the poor. At the request of Bishop Polding, she sent five Sisters of Charity to minister to the women in the female factory at Parramatta. They arrived in Sydney on 31 December 1838, the first religious women in Australia. As the congregation grew, ministries spread to include health, education, and social welfare as well as spiritual and pastoral ministry and missions abroad.

Our charism is to bring to each person the love, tenderness and concern of Christ for the poor, seeing Christ in everyone we meet.
Impelled by the love of Christ and in the spirit of Mary Aikenhead, we commit ourselves by a fourth vow to respond creatively to the current and emerging needs of the poor. We recognise the essential link between the cry of the poor and the cry of earth  our common home.