NEW ORLEANS (AP) — When church leaders in New Orleans were preparing to release a list of predatory Catholic priests, they sought help from the city’s NFL team for public relations assistance. The New Orleans Saints’ president and other top officials orchestrated a crisis-communications campaign, as revealed in hundreds of internal emails obtained by The Associated Press.
The emails indicate that team executives played a more significant role than previously thought in a public relations effort to address the clergy sexual abuse crisis. The behind-the-scenes campaign was led by the team’s devoutly Catholic owner, who is a close friend of the city’s embattled archbishop. Here are some key points from the emails that the team had tried to keep confidential for years:
– Saints executives assisted the church in its public relations efforts, with a spokesman briefing his boss on a call with the city’s top prosecutor before the Archdiocese of New Orleans released a list of accused clergymen. This call reportedly allowed certain individuals to be removed from the list.
– Team officials were among the first outside of the church to see the list, which was a curated but incomplete lineup of suspected abusers, potentially leading to civil claims against the church and attracting law enforcement scrutiny.
– The team’s president, Dennis Lauscha, helped draft questions for Archbishop Gregory Aymond to address, and the team’s spokesman provided updates on media interviews to Lauscha.
– When the clergy abuse allegations surfaced, the team’s spokesman, Greg Bensel, conducted a public relations campaign by leveraging connections, preparing talking points, and working closely with the church during a tumultuous period.
The Saints have defended their actions, stating that they did not play a role in creating the list of accused priests and that no team members were responsible for adding or removing names from it. The team emphasized that it does not condone or cover up abuse and described the partnership with the church as a thing of the past.
The revelations made by the Associated Press (AP) ignited a wave of anger among members of the New Orleans community. State Representative Mandie Landry, a resident of New Orleans, expressed her dismay upon learning of the AP’s findings, stating, “This is disgusting.” She went on to add, “As a New Orleans resident, taxpayer, and Catholic, it doesn’t make any sense to me why the Saints would go to such lengths to protect grown men who raped children. All of them should have been equally appalled by the allegations.” Kevin Bourgeois, a survivor of sexual abuse by a priest, voiced his sense of betrayal by the Saints, stating, “It forces me to question what other secrets are being withheld.” He further expressed to the AP, “I’m angry, hurt, and re-traumatized again.”
