Camp Abbey makes a comeback

Archdiocese to reopen Camp Abbey on Northshore .wwltv.com
Posted on June 20, 2011 at 6:24 PM

Updated today at 6:44 PM

Doug Mouton / Northshore Bureau Chief

NEW ORLEANS -- New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond called it "Holy Ground," and that Holy Ground north of Covington will welcome back young Catholics next summer.

Monday, Archbishop Aymond and other church leaders showed off the renovations at Camp Abbey.

"The reopening of camp is a monumental event," former camper and counselor Patrick O'Hara said. "And I can tell you, this place has literally touched thousands and thousands of people."

The Catholic Church is paying $3.5 million to renovate Camp Abbey. The archbishop said two $1 million donations helped get the project going, and they are still working to raise the final $1.5 million.

"Things have fallen in place," Aymond said. "We do have another million and a half to raise, but I feel confident that it will come."

According to the Archdiocese, rising insurance costs forced them to shut the camp down in 2006.

When New Orleans native Gregory Aymond became the city's Archbishop, he said, reopening Camp Abbey became one of his first priorities.

"The camp really need a rebirth," Benedictine Monk Abbot Justin Brown said Monday. "It had enjoyed 49 wonderful years, but it really needed this moment to come back as the place it was before, and even better."

The camp will reopen to Catholic youth in the summer of 2012, but will be open in August of 2011 for business and social groups needing a place to hold retreats.