Mercy Health leader Sister Catherine Hughes dies at age of 92

Sister Catherine Hughes, who belonged to the Sisters of Mercy, died in Goulburn on August 19 after having been a nun for more than 70 years.

The former teacher became well known across the Border through the Mercy Million building appeal nearly 20 years ago.

Launched on September 24, 2004, with the expectation of raising $1.5 million over three years, the goal was reached in 59 weeks with Sister Catherine, the congregational board representative at the heart of the drive.

The appeal co-ordinator Geoff Smith, who was employed by Mercy Health Services and was a project manager overseeing the spending of donations, lauded Sister Catherine.

"Sister Catherine was a wonderful leader during that time," Mr Smith said.

"She was such a compassionate and thoughtful person, with a real vision for Mercy.

"That was a time where the Mercy was going through some significant changes.

"A lot of maternity services had gone and they used to have a lot of surgical areas and it was a time when Mercy needed to reinvent itself and Sister Catherine was the right person to lead the reinventing and that became palliative and aged care services."

Sisters of Mercy community leader Tricia Johnson described her friend as being reserved, but a clever thinker.

"She had a brilliant mind, that's why she was on all those boards as you would get all the information and would go right through it and see a solution," Sister Tricia said.

Born in the inner Sydney suburb of Redfern and one of 11 children, Sister Catherine joined the Sisters of Mercy as a teenager in 1948.

As a high school teacher, she gave lessons at six southern NSW schools, including Albury's St Joseph's Ladies College in 1969-70.

Sister Catherine was then a co-ordinator at the Catholic Education Office in Canberra from 1990 to 1995 and after that time on a variety of congregational boards until 2011.

She was a pastoral carer at the Canberra hospital and worked in adult faith education before retiring because of ill health.

Sister Catherine's final years were spent at an aged care village in Goulburn.

Her funeral will be held in that city's St Peter and Paul's Cathedral from 10.30am on Tuesday August 29.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: