ATHENS--Sponsorship of St. Mary’s Health Care System, Inc. will be transferred from the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas of Baltimore, according to an Oct. 20 announcement. The transfer will take place in the late summer of 1999.

St. Mary’s will remain a Georgia nonprofit corporation and become a member of Catholic Health East (CHE), a national Catholic health care system of which the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas is a founding sponsor.

According to CHE officials, St. Mary’s will be run independently from St. Joseph’s Health System in Atlanta, also a member of CHE. The working relationship between the two hospitals has not yet been determined.

Sister Marie Clark, MSC, provincial of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the order which has served the hospital for 60 years, said the decision was in large part based on the dwindling number of sisters in the order. Out of 129 sisters in the U.S. province, 40 are between the ages of 80 and 90 and 18 are over 90. Only 25 sisters in the congregation are younger than 60 and few have a health ministry background to serve on boards or help provide oversight of a hospital.

Sister Clark said the Sisters of Mercy order was selected because of compatible missions and values and the desire to keep St. Mary’s a Catholic and a nonprofit hospital.

“By transferring sponsorship of St. Mary’s, we feel that we are taking a precious stone, like a diamond, and entrusting it to others who can take better care of it than we can at this stage of our history,” she said.

Sister Clark also said the hospital remains committed to the Athens community and that participation in CHE will put St. Mary’s in the best position to continue to be viable as a Catholic hospital. Sisters currently at St. Mary’s are encouraged to remain.

“From the time our founding sisters stepped off the train on May 13, 1938 in Athens to reopen St. Mary’s Hospital, our ties to Athens have become strong,” Sister Clark said. “Some 70 sisters have served St. Mary’s these 60 years and our love for Athens and its people, St. Mary’s medical staff, and, of course, all the very special employees is deep.”

Sister Clark said the order has always tried to do what was best for St. Mary’s and the Athens community.

In 1963 they financed a major part of the construction of St. Mary’s Hospital when the need for a new and more modern facility became obvious. That same year the sisters decided to appoint a lay person as hospital administrator.

A few years later, it was decided that composition of the board of directors should include more lay persons from the community and fewer sisters. The sisters also initiated rotation of the appointment of the chair of the board of directors, which had been held by the order’s provincial superior.

“The decision to transfer St. Mary’s to another order was again a difficult decision, but based on doing what is best for St. Mary’s today and in the future,” Sister Clark said. “St. Mary’s is a financially viable and very successful hospital. It would be tempting to hold onto St. Mary’s for the glory of it.”

St. Mary’s president and chief executive officer, E.J. Fechtel, Jr. said that although it is difficult to part with the sisters with whom St. Mary’s has shared a long, close relationship, the system’s participation in CHE will build an even stronger hospital.

“As a member of one of the nation’s largest, nonprofit health care systems, we can take advantage of economies of scale and the vast expertise available to St. Mary’s through CHE,” Fechtel said. “This is extremely important in these challenging times of managed care.”

Fechtel, who has been the CEO for 35 years, said he is deeply saddened by the decision of the sisters, but respects their wishes.

“However, I have known the Sisters of Mercy all my life,” he added. “I have nothing but the highest regard for them and their order and know they will continue the fine work of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”

CHE was created in 1998 to strengthen local ministries and to ensure the continuation of the healing ministry of the Catholic Church. In addition to the nine communities of the Sisters of Mercy, other sponsoring orders include the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, St. Bonaventure, N.Y., the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph, Hamburg, N.Y., and the Sisters of Providence, Holyoke, Mass.

CHE has $2.3 billion in revenues and $4.9 billion in assets. CHE’s facilities and services are located in 17 primary service areas in 10 East coast states with headquarters in Newtown Square, Pa. CHE encompasses 33 hospitals, 31 long term care facilities, 20 residential facilities, five behavioral health facilities and numerous ambulatory and community based health services. CHE facilities employ nearly 32,000 full-time employees.

St. Mary’s will be a part of CHE’s Southeastern Division based in Tampa, Fla. In addition to St. Mary’s and St. Joseph’s Health System in Atlanta, the Sisters of Mercy also sponsor St. Joseph’s Hospital in Savannah and operate facilities in Daphne, Ala., and Baltimore.