Marlborough – Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley visited New Horizons at Marlborough Jan. 30 to say Mass for and meet with residents of the independent and assisted living community. More than 150 congregants gathered at the on-site Cardinal Cushing Chapel for this special service.
“Cardinal O’Malley was very nice and friendly,” said Lydia Whitcomb, a longtime Marlborough resident who now lives at New Horizons. “It was great to have him here.”
Although the senior community has no religious affiliation, it offers daily Catholic Mass, as well as weekly Jewish and Protestant services.
“We were so delighted to welcome his Eminence to our community,” said Robert O’Connor, New Horizons’ executive director. “His planned visit created a great deal of excitement over the past few weeks among both residents and staff members.”
The Mass was concelebrated by three priests, two of whom have Marlborough ties: Fr. Robert Brown, a New Horizons resident; Fr. Francis O’Brien of St. Matthias Church,
located directly across the street from New Horizons; and Fr. Robert Kickham, one of the cardinal’s secretaries.
During his visit to the nonprofit senior living community, the leader of the Archdiocese of Boston also spent private time with the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, who recently marked their 50th anniversary in Marlborough.
Lorraine Lesieur, another longtime Marlborough resident, said: “It was something very special to have the cardinal here to celebrate the sisters’ anniversary.”
This order previously ran Madonna Hall School for Girls on the same site, before closing the residential school and selling the property in 1993 to New Horizons’ parent organization, Cummings Foundation, Inc. In 2012, the foundation constructed a brand new 12,000-square-foot convent adjacent to the chapel, exclusively for the sisters.
“It was truly an honor for our sisters to have Cardinal O’Malley visit their home and say Mass where they worship every day,” said Kathy Chinappi, RN, lay administrator for the
convent.
Following the service, Cardinal O’Malley spent another hour greeting a large assembly of congregants and other New Horizons residents in the central atrium of the sprawling Hemenway Street community.
“The Cardinal was incredibly gracious,” O’Connor said. “Our residents and guests will long remember the time and attention he shared with them.”
