About the Solomon Center

The Solomon Center began in the late 1980s as a vision shared between the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana and a leadership donor — that the Diocese should have a place of its own, a property dedicated to retreat and renewal, somewhere groups could come together away from the noise of daily life.

Construction began in 1988. The Bishop Brown Lodge opened first. Then the Chapel of the Holy Cross. By December 1992, the original residence hall opened. The first retreat was held in January 1993 — and the property has been welcoming groups continuously since.

In the years that followed, the Solomon Center became something none of its founders quite predicted: not just an Episcopal property serving Episcopal needs, but a regional retreat home for Catholic high schools and parishes, civic leadership programs, recovery communities, and faith-based organizations of every Christian tradition. The mission expanded as the welcome did.

Across 18 years of detailed records, the Solomon Center has hosted approximately 3,400 events, served 960+ distinct organizations, and welcomed people from every parish in Louisiana and many beyond. The cumulative reach is in the hundreds of thousands of guest-nights.

The property today, in 2026, is in the strongest position of its history — a fully restored facility, an active ministry of an active Diocese, a roster of returning clients building toward the next 30 years.