The sisters came to the archdiocese in 1867. For nearly a century, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd ran the House of the Good Shepherd on Mission Hill in Boston. The sisters moved their school to Marlborough in 1964, where they provided a therapeutic residential program for girls until 1985.

"We then went into other kinds of ministries such as small community based programs," Sister Jane said.

The programs included working with girls, women and families in Quincy and Waltham, before the sisters moved to their current home in Marlborough.

Though the role of the sisters is now a ministry of prayer amongst the residents at the facility, Sister Jane said she and the other sisters still feel inspired by the legacy of their foundress, St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier.

"Her watch-word, her legacy, if you will, to us was 'a person is of more value than a world' and we have always lived out of that saying, shall I say. So that no matter where we encounter people -- whether it is in active ministry, in a social situation, so also in this situation -- a person is of more value than a world," Sister Jane said.

This year, Cummings Foundation is among the larger donors in direct financial grants to other Catholic entities within the archdiocese. In addition to building the convent, the Woburn-based foundation has formally made grants of $100,000 each to both Catholic Charities and Catholic Charities-North, as well as to Emmanuel College, Catholic Schools Foundation, and Nativity Preparatory School in Jamaica Plain.

Kathy Chinappi, RN, the lay administrator for the convent for the last 10 years, noted, "The relationship with Cummings Foundation has always been wonderful. New Horizons truly is home for the sisters."