MARRERO (LA)
The Advocate
November 3, 2018
By Matt Sledge
The grand Spanish Colonial Revival buildings of Madonna Manor and Hope Haven that stand on opposite sides of Barataria Boulevard in Marrero are largely vacant now, empty but still-imposing monuments of Catholicism in the New Orleans area.
For decades, they housed orphans and children from troubled families, all placed into the care of the church. But their ornate facades concealed a grotesque pattern of physical and sexual abuse perpetrated by priests, brothers and nuns.
While the scandal there cost the Archdiocese of New Orleans and other entities $5.2 million in 2009, Friday was the first time the archdiocese named alleged abusers there, along with dozens of priests and other clergy that church officials determined were credibly accused of the sexual abuse of minors.
At least 65 people have alleged that as children, they suffered abuse, including whipping, molestation or worse, while confined to the 10-acre campus of Hope Haven and Madonna Manor between the 1940s and 1970s.
One of them, 66-year-old Louis Cantero, still gets a chill whenever he drives past the complex.
“I didn’t realize how much damage that did to me until later in life,” he said.
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