Mary Aikenhead Ministries was established by the Holy See in 2008 as a public juridic person at the request of the Congregation of the Religious Sisters of Charity of Australia to succeed to, and to carry on and expand, various health and aged care, education and welfare ministries previously conducted by the Sisters of Charity. Mary Aikenhead Ministries was formally promulgated at the official transfer ceremony on July 1, 2009.

Under Mary Aikenhead Ministries many ministries that had been established and developed by the Sisters of Charity, since their arrival in Australia from Ireland in 1838, are now governed by a group of Trustees. The Trustees seek to ensure that the heritage, tradition and the charism of the Sisters are taken purposefully into the future.