Sisters of the Holy Family

Description

• Our community is the ONLY existing religious order FOUNDED in NEW ORLEANS in existence today • Began our mission by teaching slave women and children the Catechism of the Holy Catholic Church for their reception of the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion • Expanded our ministries to care for the elderly and sick. Lafon Nursing Facility is recorded in the National Register as oldest continuously existing Catholic nursing home for the elderly • In 1853 opened orphanages for children left homeless from the yellow fever epidemic. • In 1867 established St. Mary's Academy, the first secondary school for free girls of color in New Orleans • Current ministries include: • Lafon Nursing Facility • St. John Berchmans Manor (Apartments for low-income seniors) • Delille Inn (Apartments for low-income seniors) • St. Mary's Academy High School • St. Mary's Academy Elementary School • St. John Berchmans Early Childhood Education Center • School teachers & administrators in archdiocesan schools • Prison Ministry in state institutions • Eighty-nine Sisters in the community, 4 young women in formation • Canonization process for Henriette Delille opened in 1988. In 2010 she was named Venerable. • The community has ministered nationally and internationally