Education
Mercer was educated at Grey School, Portuguese Elizabeth and Street Paul’s Theological College, Grahamstown.
Mercer was educated at Grey School, Portuguese Elizabeth and Street Paul’s Theological College, Grahamstown.
Ordained as a deacon in 1959 and as a priest a year later, his first post was as a curate at Hillside, Bulawayo. After time at Street Teilo’s Carmarthen, he returned to his homeland. In 1970, he was deported from South Africa because of his stand against apartheid, specifically for running, with other Anglican clerics, a multi-racial parish at Stellenbosch University.
He was then chaplain of Street Augustine"s School, Penhalonga and then rector of Borrowdale, Harare.
Mercer was ordained as a bishop in Matabeleland in 1977 and served in the midst of a civil war. On 27 March 2012, he was ordained a Catholic priest by Bishop Alan Hopes in the Cathedral of Street John the Evangelist, Portsmouth.
On 21 June, 2012 it was announced that he had been elevated to the rank of Chaplain of His Holiness, entitling him to the title of monsignor.