NEW ORLEANS – Our Lady of Wisdom Healthcare Center – a senior skilled care facility located on the Westbank that houses 138 individuals in the Greater New Orleans area – will soon come under new ownership. The six religious congregations who originally owned the facility – the Sisters of Mercy, Jesuits, Dominican Friars, Dominican Sisters of Peace, Sisters of Mount Carmel and Marianites of Holy Cross – have given Our Lady of Wisdom to the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The transaction is expected to be complete by January 2017.
“The leaders of these six communities felt it was time to secure a new steward who would carry the mission of Our Lady of Wisdom into the future,” Sister Ann LaCour, Congregation of the Marianites, said. “Instead of selling the facility to the highest bidder, it was far more important to the religious communities to identify a sponsor who fully understands and respects how special Our Lady of Wisdom is. We are confident that the archdiocese will preserve Our Lady of Wisdom’s Catholic identity and uphold the outstanding quality of services that it provides.”
“Caring for the elderly is an important part of our ministry in the Archdiocese of New Orleans,” New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond said. “We are grateful to be able to expand this ministry by administering Our Lady of Wisdom. As Jesus cared for the elderly and the sick, we must do the same in his name.”
Under the archdiocese’s ownership, Our Lady of Wisdom will continue to provide high quality care for aging religious and laypersons in the Greater New Orleans area, facility reps said. Our Lady of Wisdom staff and archdiocesan leadership are working together to ensure the current residents and their families are not inconvenienced by the transition, they said. The archdiocese will also retain Our Lady of Wisdom’s existing staff.
“It is with excitement and anticipation that we look to the future of Our Lady of Wisdom under the archdiocese’s leadership,” Our Lady of Wisdom Administrator Bob Laster said. “I know that this facility will continue to thrive as it has in the past, and that it will also benefit from the archdiocese’s guidance in this new era.”
The vision for Our Lady of Wisdom came about in the 1990s when a group of Catholic congregations expressed a mutual desire to meet the needs of aging individuals. This collaborative way of thinking has, in turn, brought various local religious orders closer together and formed bonds among congregations, facility reps said. Our Lady of Wisdom opened its doors in December of 1999. The facility, which is adjacent to the University of Holy Cross campus, is a 127,000-square-foot building set on 11 acres of land donated by the Marianites of Holy Cross.
