A storied career in education, service, and spirituality has found its next chapter within the splendid campus at New Horizons at Marlborough. Father Walter J. Smith, SJ, PhD, a former nonprofit executive with ties to the Vatican, has chosen the senior community as his new home and ministry.

A South Boston native, Father Smith graduated from Boston College High School and Boston College before joining his Jesuit teachers in the Society of Jesus in 1962. He was ordained a priest in 1972 and earned master's degrees in philosophy, theology, psychology, French language and literature, and counseling before completing a doctorate in clinical psychology. While completing French studies in Paris, Father Smith pursued a culinary training program at Le Cordon Bleu.

Father Smith also spent many years working as a consultant at the Vatican, serving the Dicasteries for the Clergy and for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. After a distinguished career and significant ministries that have defined his 63 years as a Jesuit, he has found a new volunteer calling at New Horizons.

"I was a young man when I decided to focus my work in clinical psychology in the areas of gerontology and end-of-life care," said Father Smith, joking about his recent move. "Now, I'm in that age group myself."

Father Smith's numerous community service affiliations include membership on the Palliative Care Advisory Commission at Mass General Brigham Newton-Wellesley Hospital and Age-Friendly Boston. He gives back in his new community, an expansive 40-acre campus of more than 400 retirees, by celebrating Mass and preaching in its on-site chapel and offering pastoral care and counseling to his fellow residents as well as to the retired religious women living at Alliance Health at Marie Esther in Marlborough.

Although it has no religious affiliation, New Horizons' many Catholic residents participate in Masses celebrated daily in the spacious Cushing Chapel of the Good Shepherd as greeters, lectors, eucharistic ministers, and sacristans. The chapel's religious and spiritual services and ministries are supported and coordinated by more than two dozen religious women from various orders and congregations, all of whom live on the campus.

"Father Smith has been a magnificent addition to our New Horizons community," said Executive Director Betsy Connolly. "In daily life, he is warm, thoughtful, and giving to all. In spiritual life, his homilies are full of wisdom and sincerity."

Additional prayer and communion services are held at New Horizons throughout the week. Regular on-site Protestant and Jewish religious services are also offered.

Connolly also noted Father Smith's involvement with Cummings Foundation, the parent organization of New Horizons.

"Not only was he quick to embrace an important ministerial role at home," she said, "Father Smith also accepted an invitation from the Foundation to assist in its annual grant-making program."

One of the largest private foundations in New England, Cummings Foundation operates two New Horizons senior communities, in Marlborough and Woburn. Among its largest philanthropic initiatives is the annual Cummings $30 Million Grant Program. Community volunteers like Father Smith determine the majority of the 150 local nonprofits that receive funding through this program.

"This is a different kind of venture philanthropy," observed Father Smith when comparing Cummings Foundation with his extensive prior work in the nonprofit sector. "Cummings Foundation's philosophy of philanthropy is much more democratized, yet still driven by a high degree of accountability."

Having spent almost three decades at the helm of HealthCare Chaplaincy -- a pastoral care, education, and research nonprofit managing multifaith professional chaplaincy staff and programs in more than 25 New York City hospitals -- as well as numerous years dedicated to higher education teaching and administration, Father Smith recently published an Amazon best-selling memoir/cookbook, "Faith, Food and Friendship." According to Connolly, some of his fellow residents at New Horizons are already benefiting from his skills in cooking, baking, and entertaining.

New Horizons at Marlborough is a completely not-for-profit retirement community that offers a continuum of care, including independent living, assisted living, memory care, and an on-campus geri-psych program. Thanks to a unique rate-lock policy, incoming new residents are guaranteed no increases to their rent and board fees for at least their first six years -- a benefit they often enjoy for much longer.

Residents were overjoyed last spring to welcome Cardinal Seán O'Malley for a special Mass and reception. In addition to the chapel, New Horizon's on-site amenities include a pharmacy/sundry shop, a hair salon, an art studio, a game room, large-screen theaters, and an oversized heated indoor lap swimming pool. More information about New Horizons is available at CountryCommunities.com.