Saints find themselves in hot water after extensive role in mitigating clergy’s sexual abuse crisis surfaces
The New Orleans Saints entrusted their VP of Communications and President to help Archbishop Gregory Aymond and the Church navigate through the clergy sexual abuse crisis.
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The Saints ownership directed the team's resources to help the church navigate through turbulent waters (Image Credits: L-via New Orleans Saints, R-via Open Source)
The New Orleans church knew they were heading into a crisis after they published a list of 57 Catholic priests over predatory behavior. To handle the backlash from the scandal, they reached out to the New Orleans Saints, an unexpected choice of savior at the time.
The church partnered up with the city’s football franchise and came up with a carefully planned approach to handle the crisis as reported by The Associated Press. Internal emails obtained by the source indicate a months-long, crisis-communication blitz that helped soften the blow to the church.
The fight to obtain these emails has been ongoing for the past five years. The New Orleans Saints and the church had fought tooth and nail to keep them out of the public domain. However, the close affiliation between the team’s ownership and the archbishop could no longer be hidden as the emails highlight the lengths Gayle Benson urged her VP of Communications Greg Bensel, and President Dennis Lauscha to go to protect the church.
The New Orleans Saints dubbed their assistance of the church as being a ‘well-intended effort’
The Saints executives were involved in the church’s damage control effort and were one of the first people outside of the close members of the church to view the names on the list. The team’s spokesman was part of a call alongside the city’s top prosecutors and played a role in determining which names to take off the list.
In addition to this, the team President Dennis Lauscha prepared Archbishop Gregory Aymond before he spoke to the media after the names were released. Lauscha had prepared over a dozen questions that could catch Aymond off-guard and ensured his answers did not further incriminate the church or himself.
In addition to this, the Saints’ VP of Communications, Greg Bensel kept Dennis Lauscha updated regarding the public sentiments towards the church after Aymond’s public interviews. “He’s doing well. That is our message, that we will not stop here today,” he is quoted as saying in one of the emails discussing the archbishop’s performance during his interviews.
The New Orleans Saints have kept the knowledge of their involvement on a need-to-know basis. The team assured fans that they had provided “minimal” assistance to the church and went to court to keep their internal emails hidden. The team has a soft spot for the archbishop and the church because of their history. Gregory Aymond was responsible for introducing Gayle Benson to the late Thomas Benson. The couple has maintained a close relationship with the church and the Archdiocese of New Orleans since.
In subsequent statements, the Saints have done their best to ensure damage control. The team has now been attempting to justify the partnership as a thing of the past. They released a detailed statement in which they called the media out for leaking the emails “to misconstrue a well-intended effort.” Their response has done little to calm their fanbase down.
In light of their involvement, the relevant question here is if the NFL will begin an investigation of its own to determine if the Saints violated the policy against conduct detrimental to the league. The scandal is bigger than just the team. Multiple New Orleans institutions including U.S. District Court Jude Jay Zainey went on to hail the team’s efforts to help the church as seen in the internal emails.
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Sumedh Joshi
(2291 Articles Published)