United States of America

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In 1882, the Good Shepherd Sisters accepted a request from Father Pierre-Emmanuel Dupont of Biddeford, Maine, to open a Catholic school for the children of French Canadian parents who had emigrated to the USA in the hope of finding work in Maine’s textile mills. The staffing of schools was then extended to other French Canadian parishes in Massachusetts and Maine. In 1925, St. Ann’s Orphanage was established in Lawrence, Massachusetts, to respond to the needs of both orphaned and homeless children. In 1972, the administration of that home was entrusted to lay persons. 

In 1940, St. Andre Home, was opened to respond with love and goodness to the plight of unmarried pregnant women. After 1974, services continued to be provided through the establishment of group homes. Today, in the USA as in Quebec, the social and economic context has led the Good Shepherd Sisters to adapt to new realities.
Here the Congregation maintains an important ministry. Esther Residence provides a place of recovery for women released from prison. The sisters also teach in elementary classes and in faith education through preparation for the sacraments and the Lambs of Jesus Movement.