While scandal is nothing new to the Catholic Church, recent revelations have implicated a shocking new party. According to hundreds of emails obtained by reporters, the leadership of the New Orleans Saints waged a media campaign to keep the allegations of abuse under wraps. In addition to the devout owner of the team, city officials also contributed to the coverup.
The football team fought to keep internal communications hidden. One email outlined how an employee briefed Dennis Lauscha, the team’s president, on a list of priests accused of abuse. According to that worker, a call with the city prosecutor “allowed us to take certain people off” that list. In response to the list, the president drafted a list of questions to prepare Archbishop Gregory Aymond for a meeting with the press.
Greg Bensel, the Saints’ vice president of communications, gave his boss live updates as Lauscha spoke to the media. “He is doing well,” he said of the archbishop. He also seemed to coordinate the response: “That is our message, that we will not stop here today.”At the time, the team insisted that they only provided ‘minimal’ assistance to the church.
State Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans, weighed in on the scandal. “This is disgusting; as a New Orleans resident, taxpayer, and Catholic, it doesn’t make any sense to me why the Saints would go to these lengths to protect grown men who [abused] children. All of them should have been just as horrified at the allegations.” In response, the team insisted that the team is no longer working with the diocese in any capacity.
At the time, Bensel said he was acting “not as the communications person for the Saints/Pelicans but as a parent, New Orleanian, and member of the Catholic Church.” However, he added he was not “paid enough” to deal with the issue. Despite these damning emails, the team insisted “no compensation from the archdiocese was expected or received in return for Mr Bensel’s assistance.”
In a recent statement, the team said, “No member of the Saints organization condones or wants to cover up the abuse that occurred in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. That abuse occurred is a terrible fact.” They also criticized reporters for using “leaked emails for the purpose of misconstruing a well-intended effort.” The Saints denied many details of their involvement in the scandal.
They said no employees “had any responsibility for adding or removing any names from that list” and that none of their workers had “any input, suggestions or opinions as to who should be included or omitted from” the list of names at the center of the scandal. Local officials have also denied their role in the events. Leon Cannizzaro, the district attorney at the time, firmly denied his involvement.
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Cannizzaro insisted he had “absolutely had no involvement in removing any names from any list.” Another official, U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey, thanked Bensel “for the wonderful advice” from his personal email address. He added, “By his example and leadership, Archbishop Aymond, our shepherd, will continue to lead our Church in the right direction — helping us to learn and to rebuild from the mistakes of the past.”
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