Sisters of the Holy Family

• 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 cont

inuously 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