One of San Francisco’s last all-girls Catholic high schools announced Friday it will close its doors at the end of this school year amid financial distress.

Mercy High School, a college preparatory school founded in 1952, will shut down in June.

“It is with great sadness that we announce the closure of Mercy High School, an independent Catholic school sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy for the last 68 years,” said Sister Carolyn Krohn, head of the school.

The school is working with parents, other Catholic schools and public school districts to place its current and potential students. Students may be able to transfer to Mercy High School in Burlingame.

Classes and activities will continue like normal in the next few months, according to the school, and “the welfare of our students is of the greatest importance.”

Decreasing enrollment, lack of significant endowment and rising operating expenses made it impossible for the institution to remain financially stable, Krohn said. Many families could no longer afford tuition on top of the rising cost of living in San Francisco.

“We had so hoped that we would find a solution to Mercy’s challenges, but unfortunately, even with the multiple strategies we have explored, it is just not possible,” Krohn said.

The school was founded when James O’Dowd, an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, requested the Sisters of Mercy to provide a school for Catholic girls in the Sunset, Lakeside and Parkmerced districts of the city.

The school building was completed in 1954, and in 1956, its first graduating class of 173 seniors received diplomas.

More than 11,000 women have graduated from the school.

“We want to wholeheartedly thank our dedicated teachers, staff and sisters, past and present, who have exhibited dedication, and compassion while assisting young women in their dreams of a Mercy education,” Krohn said.

Anna Bauman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: anna.bauman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @abauman2