Summary: This study highlights the changes in caring for children, in the Diocese of New York, by women’s religious congregations, from the middle of the nineteenth century until the eve of the Second Vatican Council. It concentrates particularly on the story of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, for the purpose of exploring the possible interconnections between the practices of social assistance and the structures of consecrated life, in relation to a decline of the specifically confessional, religious identity and value system towards a “secular” orientation. The initiatives taken, and the choices made by the sponsoring religious congregations in respect of their own welfare and educational works, often bring about “mutations” on the level of the identity, the mission and the organisation of the religious congregations themselves.