Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans is a division of the Roman Catholic Church and is the second-oldest diocese in the United States. The Archdiocese encompasses 8 civil parishes in the New Orleans metropolitan area arid includes 108 church parishes. In addition to the religious facilities of each church parish, the Archdiocese also owns primarily non-religious facilities including school buildings, elderly and disabled persons housing, and charitable assistance buildings. Hurricane Katrina's high winds and flooding caused extensive damage to many of the Archdiocese's primarily non-religious buildings. The Archdiocese accounted for disaster costs on a project-by-project basis, as required. However, the Archdiocese did not always follow federal procurement standards, arid its claim included $520,952 in ineligible costs for markups on contract costs ($510,328) and costs not incurred ($10,624).