Just how much help did the leadership of the Saints and Pelicans provide to the archdiocese of New Orleans as it was forced to acknowledge its own role covering up sexual abuse for decades amid the global Catholic church sex abuse crisis? Four news outlets—WWL Louisiana, The Guardian, the Associated Press, and The New York Times—fought for the release of emails between local Catholic leadership and the Saints. The emails were first obtained through a clergy abuse lawsuit brought against the archdiocese, but the Saints and the church wanted them kept private. The Saints and the church lost their court battle, and recently the four news outlets were finally given copies of the emails.
All four outlets wrote about what they discovered and published stories Monday; each report is worth your time. If one thing is made clear from the emails that were released, it is how easy it is for one powerful organization, when in crisis, to turn to another for help, and receive it with few questions asked.
In June of 2018, Jim Mustian, then of The Advocate reported, that the archdiocese had paid more than half a million dollars to settle claims that deacon George F. Brignac repeatedly raped an altar boy. Brignac also had been charged at least twice with sexual misconduct, The Advocate reported. Yet Brignac continued to work as a lay minister. Today, The Guardian published a report that included excerpts from the emails sent between Saints VP of communications Greg Bensel and Saints and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson about how they might be able to help Archbishop Gregory Aymond navigate the bad press. From the story:
The day after the Brignac story broke, Bensel wrote to Benson: "The issues that the Archbishop has to deal with that never involve him," on top of a link to—and an attached copy of—the Advocate article about the molester deacon authored by a reporter now at the Associated Press.
Benson wrote back suggesting that she had seen the article already. She said she had even spoken to Aymond about it "last week", several days before its publication. "Archbishop is very upset," Benson told Bensel. "A mess."
Bensel told Benson he was available to Aymond if the archbishop "ever wants to chat crisis communications".
"We have been through enough at [the] Saints to be a help or sounding board,” Bensel said, about six years after he guided the team through the infamous so-called Bountygate scandal that – among other consequences – resulted in the club's coach at the time being suspended for an entire season. "But I don’t want to overstep!"
Benson replied: "Thank you Greg, I will pass this on to him. I am certain he will appreciate it. Many thanks."
A few months later, Ramon Antonio Vargas published a story, also in The Advocate, reporting that Jesuit High School had settled at least three claims of sexual abuse. Both Saints team president Dennis Lauscha and Bensel graduated from Jesuit High School in New Orleans, per The Guardian, which called the school a "revered Catholic preparatory."
On Sept. 21, 2018, two days after that story was published, Bensel sent an email addressed to "Father Frank." It said, per WWL Louisiana, "Speaking from personal experience after 23 years with the Saints, when the media and the public attack you at your core, it takes the resolve and focus of people like yourself to lead us to clarity." He went on to add that he already had been talking with the Archbishop Aymond "on numerous occasions" and was with him on Gayle Benson's boat in Florida when the story about "the defrocked lay priest was exposed and he was very troubled." He closed the email by offering "the full support of myself, Dennis and Mrs. Benson," as well as "If I can offer any counsel on any issue, I am here for you."
Per The Guardian, a lawyer for the Saints sent them a statement on Saturday saying "no member of the Saints organization condones or wants to cover up the abuse that occurred in the archdiocese of New Orleans." Catholic News Agency reported in September that the New Orleans archdiocese had, as part of bankruptcy proceedings, offered a $62.5 million payout to victims of sexual abuse.
You can read The WWL Louisiana report here.
You can read The Guardian report here.
You can read The Associated Press report here.
You can read The New York Times report here.
