By Brett Martin and Jim Mustiano, Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) Church authorities in New Orleans looked to an unusual ally—the front office of the city’s NFL team—as they prepared for the impact from revealing a list of predatory Catholic priests.
Based on hundreds of internal emails that The Associated Press was able to obtain, the New Orleans Saints president and other top team officials coordinated a crisis-communications blitz that lasted for months.
The documents, which the Saints and church have long wished to conceal from the public, show that team executives were involved in a wider public relations effort to lessen the impact of the clerical sexual abuse scandal than was previously thought. The emails provide fresh insight into the Saints’ excursion into a sensitive subject off the field, a behind-the-scenes endeavor spearheaded by the team’s pious Catholic owner, who has long maintained a tight bond with the city’s troubled archbishop.
They also demonstrated how several New Orleans establishments, including the local media and a sitting federal judge, came together to support church leaders during a crucial time.
According to the Saints’ own correspondence, some of the pivotal occasions were:
A team spokesman briefed his boss on a 2018 discussion with the city’s top prosecutor only hours before the church issued a list of clergymen accused of abuse, demonstrating how involved Saints executives were in the church’s damage control. According to the spokesperson, the call enabled us to remove several individuals from the list.
The list, a meticulously organized but under-reported inventory of suspected pedophiles, was initially seen by team officials outside the church. The church was the target of civil lawsuits when those names were made public, and state and federal law enforcement took notice.
Archbishop Gregory Aymond should be ready to respond to the more than a dozen questions that team president Dennis Lauscha prepared.
Greg Bensel, the senior vice president of communications for the Saints, gave Lauscha fly-on-the-wall updates regarding interviews with local media, implying that team and church executives were all on the same team. As the archbishop assured reporters that the church was dedicated to resolving the problem, Bensel noted, “He is doing well.” We will not stop here today, Bensel continued, and that is our message.
The emails that AP was able to collect severely undermined the Saints’ promises to fans regarding the PR guidelines five years prior, when they claimed to have given the church very little help. The group filed a lawsuit to protect the privacy of its internal emails.
State Representative Mandie Landry, a Democrat from New Orleans, called this “disgusting.” As a Catholic, taxpayer, and citizen of New Orleans, I find it incomprehensible that the Saints would go to such lengths to defend adult males who have sexually assaulted minors. The accusations should have appalled them all equally.
Last Monday, the Saints informed AP that the partnership is no longer in place. The emails span a year, culminating in July 2019, when lawyers representing victims of a priest who was later accused of raping an 8-year-old kid subpoenaed them.
The team issued a lengthy statement in which they chastised the media for misrepresenting a well-meaning endeavor by utilizing leaked emails.
According to the team, no member of the Saints organization supports or want to conceal the abuse that took place in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. It is a horrible fact that abuse took place.
Survivors of sexual assault by clergy were not particularly placated by the team’s answer. Kevin Bourgeois, a former Saints season ticket holder who suffered abuse at the hands of a priest in the 1980s, stated, “We felt betrayed by the organization.” It makes me wonder whether there are any other secrets being kept hidden. I feel re-traumatized, angry, and hurt.
Emails reveal extent of help
Saints owner Gayle Benson disputed that anyone connected to our organizations had suggestions or input on the list of pedophile priests following the AP’s initial revelation on the alliance in early 2020.
In a statement released on Saturday, the Saints reaffirmed their denial, claiming that none of the team’s personnel were in charge of adding or deleting names from that list. According to the team, no staff members provided any feedback, ideas, or viewpoints regarding who ought to be on the list or not.
Echoing remarks he made in 2020, Leon Cannizzaro, the district attorney at the time, denied last week any involvement in creating the list of clergy members who were credibly charged. He assured AP that he had nothing to do with the removal of any names from any list. Cannizzaro said he was unsure of the reason behind the Saints’ spokesperson’s claim that he had been on a call about the list.
Which clergymen were taken off the list and why are not made clear in the emails, which were received from Saints accounts. However, they bring up new concerns over the Saints’ involvement in a scandal that has grown in legal and financial significance since the team entered it, possibly in violation of the NFL’s rule prohibiting actions that harm the league.
A coalescing of New Orleans institutions
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who will speak to reporters on Monday as New Orleans gets ready to host its 11th Super Bowl, may pay more attention to the excessive involvement of Saints executives. The NFL received messages asking for comment.
When combined, the emails show how several New Orleans institutions came together. From his personal email account, U.S. District Court Judge Jay Zainey, who was copied on the Saints’ PR efforts, encouraged Bensel and thanked the team’s spokesperson for the excellent counsel. Bensel was also thanked by a newspaper editor for becoming involved.
You’ve covered everything. In another email to Bensel, fellow Catholic Zainey praised a long letter the Saints spokesperson issued to editors of local newspapers. Our shepherd, Archbishop Aymond, will continue to guide our Church in the proper way by setting an example and providing guidance, enabling us to grow from our previous mistakes.
Later, despite strong opposition from the church, Zainey overturned a Louisiana rule that would have permitted victims to file civil lawsuits regardless of how long ago the alleged sex assault occurred. He refused to speak.
A watershed moment for the Catholic Church
The list was a long-awaited admission of guilt to parishioners meant to bring about reconciliation and local accountability, marking a turning point in the history of strongly Catholic New Orleans. It occurred during a period when church authorities were attempting to maintain financial support and public trust while dealing with decades of abuse and growing legal issues that ultimately forced the Archdiocese of New Orleans into bankruptcy.
Over 600 individuals who claim to have been molested by clergy are involved in the lawsuit, which was filed in 2020. A wealth of still-secret church documents allegedly relating to years of abuse allegations and a pattern of church executives moving clergy without informing law enforcement of their crimes have been uncovered by the case.
Although it has since grown, an earlier AP investigation discovered that some clergy were absent from the list of accused priests when it was first made public.
According to the AP, 20 clergymen—including two who were charged and found guilty of crimes—who had been the subject of litigation or charged by law authorities with child sexual assault were mysteriously left off the New Orleans list.
Nevertheless, the FBI and Louisiana State Police used the list as a guide when they began extensive investigations into how church leaders in New Orleans protected predatory priests.
State police conducted a comprehensive search warrant at the Archdiocese of New Orleans this spring, obtaining documents that included correspondence with the Vatican.
At least seven current and former members of the local clergy have been accused with offenses ranging from possession of child pornography to rape since the Saints started helping the archdiocese.
Public relations campaign
In 2018, when the Saints won nine straight games and advanced to the NFC Championship, the magnitude of the abuse was still mostly unknown. Bensel conducted an intensive public relations effort as the church prepared for a media assault, relying on long-standing media contacts, preparing talking points, and requesting favors to help the church get through a potentially turbulent period.
Bensel received the support and blessing of the Saints through what he called a Galileo moment, which implied that Aymond would be a trailblazer in revealing a list of clergy who were credibly accused at a crucial juncture for the church. This was far from freelancing. He cautioned in communications to editorial boards that criticizing the archbishop is neither appropriate nor helpful.
He encouraged the city’s newspapers to collaborate with the church, pointing out that their backing had helped the city’s NBA club, the Saints and New Orleans Pelicans, which is also owned by Benson, succeed.
Bensel wrote to the editors of The Times-Picayune and New Orleans Advocate, “We did this because we had buy-in from YOU,” endorsing our goal of becoming the best and making New Orleans and all within its borders the finest.
“With the Archdiocese of New Orleans, we are currently sitting on that opportunity,” he continued. The tale of how this Archbishop is guiding us out of this situation must be told.
Close relationship between Saints and the Catholic Church
Benson has long been a confidant of Archbishop Aymond. It was the archbishop who introduced Benson to her late husband, Tom Benson, who died in 2018, leaving his widow in control of New Orleans NFL and NBA franchises.
The Bensons foundation has given tens of millions of dollars to the archdiocese and other Catholic causes. Along the way, Aymond has flown on the owner s private jet and become almost a part of the team, frequently celebrating pregame Masses.
When the clergy abuse allegations came to a head, Bensel, the Saints’ spokesman, worked his contacts in the local media to help shape the story. He had friendly email exchanges with a Times-Picayune columnist who praised the archbishop for releasing the clergy list. He also asked the newspaper s leadership to keep their communications confidential, not for publication nor to share with others.
His emails revealed that The Advocate after Aymond privately complained to the publisher removed a notice from one online article that had called for clergy abuse victims to reach out.
Kevin Hall, president and publisher of Georges Media, which owns the newspaper, said the publication welcomes engagement from community leaders but that outreach does not dilute our journalistic standards or keep us from pursuing the truth.
No one gets preferential treatment in our coverage of the news, he said in a statement. Over the past six years, we have consistently published in-depth stories highlighting the ongoing serious issues surrounding the archdiocese sex abuse crisis, as well as investigative reports on this matter by WWL-TV and by The Associated Press.
It was The Advocate s reporting that prompted Bensel to help the church, the emails show. He first offered to chat crisis communications with church leaders after the newspaper exposed ascandalinvolving a disgraced deacon, George Brignac, who remained a lay minister even after the archdiocese settled claims he raped an 8-year-old altar boy.
We have been through enough at Saints to be a help or sounding board, Bensel wrote, but I don t want to overstep!