How New Orleans’ saints helped the Catholic Church

The archdiocese of New Orleans faced a crisis. A sexual abuse scandal broke into the public, sending shock waves through the highly Catholic city.

The leaders of one of the other major institutions in New Orleans, the Saints of New Orleans of the NFL, were concerned. Gayle Benson, the team owner, is a Catholic FEV, a major church benefactor and a close friend of Archbishop Gregory Aymond.

Thus, in July 2018, when Greg Bensel, the head of the communications of the saints, saw a local new revealing that a former deacon which had been withdrawn from the ministry after the accusations of mistreatment was in a public role in a local church, he sent an email to Mrs. Benson.

“The problems that the archbishop must face this never implies it,” wrote Mr. Bensel.

In response, Ms. Benson said the archbishop was “very upset”. Then, Mr. Bensel made a suggestion: he proposed to lend his expertise “Crisis Communications”, reunited from his decades of work for the saints, to the Archdiocese.

Ms. Benson thanked her and said that she would share her offer with Archbishop Aymond.

This exchange was the first of more than 300 emails, obtained by the New York Times, which show the Saints and the Archdiocese working together to temper the fallout of a flow of sexual abuse against priests and church employees. The accusations of abuse, which extend over decades, have led to dozens of civil proceedings and to shelter, more than 600 allegations of abuse in the current bankruptcy of the archdiocese And a handful of criminal convictions, and are part of an international account for the Church.