Ohio nuns lament downfall of their former nursing home under new owners

A congregation of Catholic women religious is lamenting the downfall of an acclaimed nursing home it once operated, after severe neglect and endangerment of residents by the current owners prompted Ohio state officials to intervene.

“This is a shock that they did what they did,” Sister Janet, community secretary of the Congregation of the Divine Spirit in Canton, Ohio, told OSV News.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced Jan. 13 that the state will begin relocating residents from the House of Loreto, an independent 50-bed licensed nursing facility located in Canton, adjacent to the congregation’s motherhouse.

The facility — which the congregation sold in March 2025 to Hari Group LLC, an Ohio limited liability company — was the subject of a Jan. 12 court filing by the state seeking an emergency order to remove the home’s residents, who numbered 27 as of Jan. 10.

The state’s complaint said House of Loreto residents “are in a real and present danger of immediate and serious physical harm or death.”

Repeated inspections by the Ohio Department of Health had revealed “a rapid deterioration of care” for residents, with the state warning the current owners as far back as November about “shockingly poor care.”

Among the noncompliance issues cited were the lack of qualified leadership (including a full-time registered nurse as director of nursing), the unaddressed incidence of serious falls by residents, lack of basic infection control, improper administration of medication and failure to provide appropriate wound care.

Under the court-approved emergency order, House of Loreto is barred from new admissions, and must comply with state regulations throughout the process of transferring the residents to other facilities. A preliminary injunction hearing is set to take place Jan. 21.

A House of Loreto staffer advised OSV News that the nursing home’s owners had no comment on the matter.

Following the state’s court filing, the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, released a statement clarifying that it had “never owned or operated” the House of Loreto, while noting it was “deeply saddened that a facility long known for compassionate, faith-filled care is now facing closure” less than a year after it was acquired by the Hari Group.

“My heart is with the Sisters of the Congregation of the Divine Spirit, who poured their lives into creating a home where the elderly were cherished and protected. Their ministry at the House of Loreto was a profound witness to the Gospel,” said Bishop David J. Bonnar of Youngstown in the statement.

Noting that he was “equally mindful of the residents and families now facing uncertainty and disruption,” Bishop Bonnar said it was “painful” to see the sisters’ “legacy overshadowed by the serious concerns that have emerged under the new ownership” of House of Loreto.

Sister Janet told OSV News the Hari Group had “talked a good talk” when purchasing the home from the congregation.

“They actually said they were quite interested in caring for the elderly, and they had dreams of bringing in a pharmacy and a care group,” she said. “But it ended up being all talk.”

The current conditions are a far cry from what she and her fellow sisters had worked to create since 1963, when the current House of Loreto (which had been preceded by the earlier Loretto Home for the Aged) opened its doors, she said.

And the reversal is all the more wrenching since the order, established in 1956, counts care of the aged — along with education and catechesis — as its charism.

Sister Ann Jeanne, the home’s founding administrator, was a nationally acclaimed health care administrator sought out by other industry professionals for her “expertise and influence,” said Sister Janet.

“All of our sisters, in the course of the home’s history, have been certified as licensed administrators, activity directors, dietary technicians, STNAs (state-tested nursing assistants), LPNs (licensed practical nurses),” she said. “We received the correct training.”

Along with their health care qualifications, the sisters possessed a profound love for residents, she said.

“They used to say the House of Loreto was the ‘vestibule of heaven,'” said Sister Janet. “And that really is what we tried to do: to make the people’s lives enriched and peaceful, so that when it came time to meet God, they were ready and trusting that they would be able to make that transition very well.”

She said the sisters “can’t even count the number of residents who had fallen away from the Church and who came back” during their stay at House of Loreto during the congregation’s ownership.

“We’ve even had baptisms and confirmations of residents,” said Sister Janet. “Our outreach was to the family members as well. We’ve been told more than once how their faith has been strengthened and nurtured.”

As the state transfers the residents — whose average age is “between 92 and 93 years old,” Sister Janet estimated — the congregation is “prayerfully mindful” of the elderly it has served, and remains steadfast in its faith amid a devastating time.

“We are very trustful that God can bring good out of evil,” she said.

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