Within a decade she was running the organization, building it into a one-stop services provider with a budget of almost $100 million.

She worked with the city to shape its pilot after-school program and was also a force behind transfer high schools, which offered adult dropout students a second chance. She also had a hand in reshaping the city’s foster care system, shifting the emphasis from removing children from troubled homes to propping up those families to keep them together. Along the way she wrangled with five mayors and the archdiocese (over matters of birth control and sexuality, among others).

At the end of this year, LoMonaco is stepping down from the organization she built. “'Cause I’m tired,” she said. “I’m going to be 76. This is a grueling job.”

But she won’t leave completely. She plans to keep her apartment in the same group home where she first got her start. Recently, she spoke with The New York Times from her modest corner office in Midtown Manhattan.

The following interview is an edited and condensed version of the conversation with Sister Paulette.

Q: I like to think that because you’re stepping down now, that we can speak more frankly than you could in the past.

A: We’ll see. Sure, I’m game. I’m still here until the end of the year, and then I’m going to help with fundraising.

Q: What do you see as the significant changes in the city over your 50 years?

A: When we first moved into Park Slope in 1972, Park Slope was an unsafe neighborhood. It had the highest number of kids that were being removed from their homes and put into foster care. That’s why we put a family counseling program there. Today, you can’t get real estate there.

Q: What are the biggest changes in the way we do social services?

A: I remember for the first time when more children were in preventive services than were in foster care. That was a monumental shift. The pendulum has swung from removal to keeping families together.

Q: How has your relationship with the archdiocese changed over the years?

A: We’re affiliated with Catholic Charities, but we have an independent board of directors. We’re not really controlled.

Q: How do your approaches to family planning issues go over with the archdiocese?

A: You had to ask that. We follow all of our government contracts, and not all the children that we work with are Catholic, and we respect their ability to make their choices.

Q: Does that mean you can’t make recommendations?

A: That means that I don’t want to answer that question. My spirituality is my own. I don’t speak for the Catholic Church.

Q: What changes do you see in young people?

A: I think that young people are more stressed out today because of social media. We didn’t grow up with cyberbullying. We didn’t grow up worrying about what someone at school would put up on Facebook, and it’ll be there forever. You run into many teenagers today who have seen or heard of a lot of mass shootings. Here in our city we’ve done a great job at keeping crime down, but it’s just a more stressful environment now.

Q: We remember when there were 2,200 murders a year in New York. Now there are 300.

A: But there’s other trauma. At Good Shepherd, so many of the children and families we work with have gone through a lot of trauma. So we’re very trauma-informed. We’ll start out by saying to a young person, ‘What happened to you?’ instead of, ‘What’s wrong with you?’

Q: What are the fixable problems that we’re not fixing?

A: This administration wants low-income housing to have community centers attached, but they haven’t figured out how to give us money for operations. So we have no money to turn on the lights. That’s a problem I have to fix.

I also want to fix summer day camps, because for some reason, this mayor never includes summer day camps for middle schools in the city budget. And middle school is when our kids first start getting attracted to gangs.

Q: What drew you into the church?

A: When I was in college, I had friends at Fordham, and they introduced me to some Good Shepherd sisters. And when I visited them, I just fell in love with the way they were working with young people.

One day I was volunteering at a hospital, and I had to take a girl I’d known to an adult psych ward, and I was freaked. Because I had to leave her in this locked place with people who were very disturbed. And that’s when I decided that that’s what I was going to do.

Q: What does a 21st century nun look like?

A: I hope it’s somebody who looks like me. Real. Compassionate. Happy. Mission-driven. And who wants to be treated like a normal person. It’s very annoying that whenever they want to describe a nun in the media, it’s always somebody with a habit and veil. I wish that the media could have a more up-to-date visual of a sister.

Q: The culture talks a lot about the effects of celibacy among priests, and whether it’s a good idea. We rarely hear about whether it’s a good idea for nuns to be celibate. Is it time to rethink that as well?

A: To be honest, I haven’t thought about it that much. Religious women join a congregation knowing that that’s a part of the deal. I can be warm and affectionate, but being married is out of the equation.

Q: You don’t have a business education. What corner-office advice would you give to other leaders?

A: I’ve always believed in the servant leadership theory, being a servant and helping other people grow. It was started by Robert K. Greenleaf at AT&T, and he wrote extensively about the best way to bring out the best in your people.

Q: So many people when they retire have an abstract idea that they’d like to play golf. You actually play golf.

A: No. I have an abstract idea that I’d like to play golf. I play a couple times a year. It is a very frustrating game. What I like is that it’s outside and you can walk. I now can hit the ball. How far is another story.

Q: You have done battle with half a dozen mayors, starting with Koch. Who was the most engaging to fight with?

A: Giuliani was tough. Mike Bloomberg I consider a friend. But there were times when they wanted to eliminate one of our programs and I’d say, I am going to be fighting you on this. This administration is progressive, but we don’t always see eye to eye. I feel it’s my responsibility to hold their feet to the fire the way they hold us accountable.

Q: It’s mid-March. Have you done your taxes yet?

A: No, because I don’t pay taxes. I don’t get a salary. My salary goes to the community. But the community’s responsibility is to make sure I’m OK.

Q: Do you see a Jimmy Carter-type retirement for yourself, or a Gerald Ford type?

A: Jimmy Carter. I’m going to be building houses of one kind or another. He’s really lived out his mission as a man of faith. I hope people can say that about me at the end.