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CV NEWS FEED // The Archdiocese of New Orleans responded Feb. 3 to claims published the same day by The New York Times suggesting that external parties influenced the names included on their 2018 list of clergy credibly accused of sex abuse.
Email exchanges recently obtained by the Times revealed a collaboration between the New Orleans Saints and the Archdiocese of New Orleans in 2018, indicating coordinated efforts to manage public relations amid the fallout from a widespread clergy sex-abuse scandal.
According to the Times, in July 2018, as the Archdiocese faced the fallout from sex-abuse allegations, Greg Bensel, head of communications for the Saints, contacted Gayle Benson, the team owner and a friend of Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond. He expressed concern about a former deacon’s public role despite abuse accusations.
Bensel offered his crisis communications expertise to assist the archdiocese, leading to an extensive partnership that included crafting talking points for Archbishop Aymond and discussing media strategies, the Times reported.
The email exchanges between the Archdiocese and the Saints reveal an joint effort “to temper the fallout from a flood of sexual abuse accusations made against priests and church employees,” according to the Times, with the Saints allegedly leveraging their influence in New Orleans to support Archbishop Aymond.
According to the Times, the emails also include indications that the Archdiocese’s publicized list of credibly accused clergy released in November 2018 was influenced by Bensel, and Leon Cannizzaro, who was then serving as district attorney for New Orleans.
Sarah McDonald, director of communications for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, denied the the outlet’s insinuation in a Feb. 3 statement emailed to CatholicVote.
“The relationship between the New Orleans Saints and the Archdiocese of New Orleans in regard to the 2018 release of the list of those removed from ministry for abuse of a minor was limited to assistance in a public relations capacity,” McDonald said. “No one from the Saints organization or the New Orleans District Attorney’s Office had any role in compiling the list or had any say in adding or removing anyone from the list.”
The Saints have characterized their involvement as minimal and reactive, asserting that they were simply responding to the Church’s request for guidance during a challenging time.
