The Sisters of Mercy were founded in 1831 by Catherine McAuley, a remarkable woman who extended the Church's ministries of healing and teaching to the poor, the sick, the uneducated and all those who were in any way ostracized by society. She inherited a fortune and turned from socialite to social worker ... from a lady of fashion and culture to a compassionate healer and teacher of the poor and ignorant. She used her inheritance for the relief and instruction of the poor, with a special focus on women.

Catherine and her associates, who later became Sisters of Mercy, initiated schools and ministered to the medical and spiritual needs of patients in hospitals. Their extraordinary successes brought petitions from around the world to found convents of Sisters of Mercy and to begin "good works" in communities around the world. Within a few years of her death in 1841, having started the largest congregation of women religious ever established in the English-speaking world, Sisters of Mercy had spread to Australia, Newfoundland, New Zealand and the US. Catherine never would have dreamed that, within time, the Sisters of Mercy would become the largest English-speaking religious community in the world. She was declared "Venerable" by the Roman Catholic Church in 1990; this is the first step in the process leading to sainthood.

Today, the Sisters of Mercy, Dallas Regional Community include 365 Sisters and 215 associate members. It is one of the 25 regional communities that comprise the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. Sisters of Mercy of the Regional Community of Dallas minister in many ways, primarily in Pennsylvania, Long Island and Guyana, but Sisters serve in other states and countries, as well. In addition to being one of five co-sponsors on Catholic Healthcare Partners, the Sisters sponsor two four-year colleges; a pre-school; a tutoring institute for persons of all ages; a ministry providing temporary housing and assistance for homeless women and their children; furniture and household item banks; learning centers for disadvantaged children; an outreach ministry to persons who are poor and elderly; a counseling/consultation center; spiritual direction ministry; a licensed personal care facility, and a licensed skilled nursing facility.