People walk along the Hope Haven Fitness Trail in Marrero, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
People walk along the Hope Haven Fitness Trail and Park in Marrero on Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
Workers stabilize the interior of the former Hope Haven property in Marrero on Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
Work to stabilize the interior of the former Hope Haven property is underway in Marrero on Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
A courtyard is seen at the former Hope Haven property in Marrero on Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
Camershia Williams sits in the shade of the trees at the Hope Haven Fitness Trail and Park in Marrero on Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
Sunlight shines through archways at the former Hope Haven property in Marrero, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
The former Hope Haven property is pictured in Marrero, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
People walk along the Hope Haven Fitness Trail in Marrero, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
Work to stabilize the interior of the former Hope Haven property is underway in Marrero on Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
Camershia Williams sits in the shade of the trees at the Hope Haven Fitness Trail and Park in Marrero on Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
Sunlight shines through archways at the former Hope Haven property in Marrero, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
The Jefferson Parish Council has reached a deal with the Archdiocese of New Orleans to purchase Hope Haven in Marrero, the former orphanage where dozens of children were physically, sexually and psychologically abused decades ago by priests, brothers and nuns charged with caring for them.
The parish has been leasing the 15-acre campus, with its sprawling grounds and century-old, Spanish mission-style buildings, from the local Roman Catholic Church since 2018, and has already built a walking trail and recreational area on a portion of the site.
People walk along the Hope Haven Fitness Trail and Park in Marrero on Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
Now, it is moving forward with plans to purchase the property for $3.8 million and turn it into a multi-use complex that could include expanded recreational areas, festival grounds, educational attractions and, potentially, offices or apartments.
The redevelopment of Hope Haven by the parish is seen as a way to breathe new life into what stands as a stark reminder of one of the darkest chapters in the clergy abuse scandal, said Republican state Sen. Pat Connick, who represents the area and has been leading efforts to facilitate the deal between the parish, state, archdiocese and abuse survivors.
As part of the deal, the parish has agreed to create a memorial on the site in honor of the victims.
Workers stabilize the interior of the former Hope Haven property in Marrero on Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
“This could be a win-win-win for everybody — to put the property back into commerce and bring good life back to the campus,” Connick said. “Evil, sick things took place there but it is time to try to heal.”
The archdiocese, which filed for bankruptcy court protection nearly five years ago amid mounting claims of clergy sex abuse, will need permission from the court to sell the property. Thus far, it has not finalized a purchase agreement.
But all parties have agreed to the deal in principle, according to leaders with the parish, state and archdiocese.
“There are still some details to be worked out,” archdiocese spokesperson Sarah McDonald said in a statement Thursday. “But the site will become home to a permanent memorial to the memory and strength of abuse survivors.”
A courtyard is seen at the former Hope Haven property in Marrero on Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
Attorneys for the committee of abuse victims did not return a call seeking comment on the deal. But another attorney, Frank LaMothe, who has represented dozens of Hope Haven survivors over the years, said he thinks his past and current clients would be supportive of creating a monument there.
“It would mean a lot to them to know there is a recognition of what they went through,” Lamothe said, adding that he could not comment on the sale specifically because he has not been involved in the negotiations.
Hope Haven opened in 1925 on the west side of Barataria Boulevard, next to what is now Archbishop Shaw High School, to provide care for needy children and wards of the state. A few years later, Madonna Manor opened across the street.
Madonna Manor took in young children from families unable to care for them and children placed there by courts as wards of the state. Hope Haven was a home for older children.
In the early 2000s, nearly two dozen lawsuits were filed against the archdiocese and its affiliate, Catholic Charities, by adults who claimed they were molested, beaten and berated as children in the 1950s and 1960s by the priests and nuns that ran the two orphanages. The archdiocese settled the suits for nearly $5.2 million in 2009.
The former Hope Haven property is pictured in Marrero, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
Fresh lawsuits were filed nearly a decade later, alleging abuse that occurred at Hope Haven and Madonna Manor in the 1970s and 1980s. The suits were filed in 2018, after Archbishop Gregory Aymond released a list of credibly accused priests that included the names of eight priests who had worked at the orphanages.
In May 2020, the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy. In the years since, some 550 abuse survivors have filed claims alleging past abuse.
Hope Haven would be the latest of nearly a dozen properties the church has sold as it seeks to raise money to settle claims. So far, the property sales have generated about $15 million, a fraction of the amount sought by victims, who have asked the archdiocese and local parishes to pony up more than $200 million, not including separate contributions they are seeking from church insurers.
At $3.85 million, the 15-acre campus Hope Haven campus, ringed with live oaks, might seem like a relative deal. The complex includes two large, century-old buildings of around 30,000 square feet each; a gymnasium dating back to 1930, and several smaller buildings. It was last appraised for $8 million, Parish Council member Deano Bonano said.
But since Jefferson began leasing the property from the archdiocese in 2018, the parish and state have spent nearly $5 million gutting, shoring and stabilizing the historic main building, which the archdiocese had allowed to deteriorate.
It has also spent a considerable amount developing a portion of the site into a recreational area with a 1/3-mile walking trail that snakes around the campus, a children’s playground and an adult fitness area.
“Given what we have in it, we felt this was a fair price and it was in our best interest to buy it,” Bonano said.
Under the terms of the deal, the parish will put up $1.4 million towards the purchase price, money that the council approved at its meeting earlier this month. The state is contributing $2.4 million.
For Connick, who led the efforts to get the state money, the revival of Hope Haven has become something of a passion project.
“This could be something so positive for the community,” said Connick, whose grandfather ran a dairy farm near the campus a century ago.
There’s no timeline for the deal to be finalized. But, once it is, the parish will begin advertising for proposals from developers interested in the site. A master plan for the property in 2022 suggests developing an aquatic center with indoor and outdoor pools and an outdoor concert venue, as well as an expanded recreational area.
Bonano says parish leaders envision it as “the center for health and fitness in West Jefferson,” much as Lafraniere Park is on the East Bank.
The master plan also suggests leasing the two main buildings for use as senior or assisted living facilities, medical offices or apartments, and using the lease proceeds to pay for the other amenities.
The YMCA is also potentially interested in the site.
Connick said he’d like to see a children’s museum in one of the buildings.
“Why not think big?” he said. “This is an opportunity to create something special for this side of the parish.”
Email Stephanie Riegel at stephanie.riegel@theadvocate.com.
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