The emails seem to show that when the Archdiocese became embroiled in a sex abuse scandal in 2018, Archbishop Gregory Aymond turned to the New Orleans Saints front office for help on how to deal with the public relations fallout, the Associated Press reported.
Former team owner Tom Benson was a close confidant and friend of Archbishop Aymond until Benson died in 2018, leaving his wife, Gayle, in control of the team. The Bensons Foundation has donated tens of millions of dollars to the New Orleans archdiocese and other Catholic-based causes.
The emails, which have only just now been made public, show how intricately involved various members of the Saints front office became in the church’s PR.
One set of emails, for instance, shows Team President Dennis Lauscha’s deep involvement in crafting the response to specific questions that he felt Archbishop Aymond would be asked to answer by the media and prosecutors. The emails show that Lauscha wrote more than a dozen emails trying to coach Aymond on how to respond to questions.
In other messages, Saints’ Senior Vice President of Communications, Greg Bensel, expended a lot of effort helping Aymond understand the lay of the land among the media coverage of the issues.
The sheer number of communications between the Church and the Saints’ front office seems to contradict the team’s claim that they had only offered “minimal” assistance to the church.
The Saints also blasted the media for “leaking” emails and misleading readers about a “well-intended effort” to help church officials.
“No member of the Saints organization condones or wants to cover up the abuse that occurred in the Archdiocese of New Orleans,” the team said. “That abuse occurred is a terrible fact,” the team’s statement added.
It is unclear what the NFL will say about the matter. League boss Roger Goodell may comment on the collaboration between the team and church leaders. So far, though, the league has remained mum.
The email chain also shows that a series of local judges were involved to varying degrees, including U.S. District Judges Jay Zainey and Wendy Vitter and former New Orleans district attorney Leon Cannizzaro.
Since the scandal erupted more than seven years ago, Seven current and former New Orleans clergymen have been charged with crimes ranging from rape to possession of child sexual abuse material.
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