• Loading stock data...
Friday, July 11, 2025

Internal Emails Find Saints Heavily Involved in New Orleans Church Abuse Scandal

Saints communications staff helped steer public relations for the church amid the abuse scandal.

Jan 2, 2022; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; The New Orleans Saints logo on the field before their game against the Carolina Panthers at the Caesars Superdome.
Chuck Cook-Imagn Images

As the sports world turns its eyes to New Orleans this week ahead of Super Bowl LIX, a cloud has emerged over the city’s NFL franchise.

Members of the Saints organization helped guide the Archdiocese of New Orleans through its public child sex abuse scandal in 2018 and 2019, records newly obtained by the Associated Press show.

Saints staff became a quasi-public relations agency for the archdiocese, according to the report, including by urging local media outlets to cover Archbishop Gregory Aymond’s leadership through the crisis, earning praise from a district court judge, and asking newspapers to keep their email exchanges confidential. The emails are more than 700 pages long, according to The Guardian, which also obtained the records.

The AP went to court with the Saints and the church over the confidential emails, which were originally gathered during a lawsuit against the archdiocese. The Saints had publicly said they weren’t very involved in the church’s PR through this time, primarily helping with “messaging” and handling media requests, but victims’ attorneys said the emails showed the team was more involved than that.

Members of the Saints organization were some of the first people who got to see the list of clergymen accused of abuse, according to the AP. Not all the clergy who faced allegations, charges, or convictions appeared on the published list, and the emails show a Saints spokesperson said that a call with the district attorney shortly before the list went public “allowed us to take certain people off.” The Saints and district attorney both deny that they had any role in trimming down the list (the district attorney denies he spoke to Saints staff about this).

Team owner Gayle Benson, who also owns the Pelicans, has a close relationship with Archbishop Aymond, who introduced Benson to her late husband, Tom. The church leader has flown on the Bensons’ private jet and celebrated pregame Masses with the team. Along the way, the Bensons have donated tens of millions of dollars to Catholic causes and the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Benson herself denied that anyone from the team had any say in the lists of accused abusers.

Saints president Dennis Lauscha sent more than a dozen questions to prepare Aymond for meeting with reporters, according to the AP. Lauscha received updates on the archbishop’s media gatherings from Saints SVP of communications, Greg Bensel, who said Aymond was “doing well” at conveying “our message” that the church “will not stop here today” at addressing the clergy abuse issue.

Bensel arguably played the largest part in the Saints’ involvement, and he had support from the team to do so, the AP reported. Following a scandal exposed by the New Orleans Advocate in 2018, he reached out to church officials to “chat crisis communications.”

“We have been through enough at Saints to be a help or sounding board,” Bensel said, “but I don’t want to overstep!”

Bensel communicated with newspaper staff, including editors and a columnist, about the scandal. “We need to tell the story of how this Archbishop is leading us out of this mess,” he told the editors of The Times-Picayune and The Advocate, asking them to “work with” the church. He also asked the newspapers to keep their emails private, and his emails show that The Advocate took down a call for victims to reach out to the outlet after Aymond complained. Bensel still holds the same role for the Saints, according to the team website.

“No member of the Saints organization condones or wants to cover up the abuse that occurred in the Archdiocese of New Orleans,” the team said in a statement to the AP. “That abuse occurred is a terrible fact.”

A representative for the Saints did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“We felt betrayed by the organization,” former Saints season ticket holder Kevin Bourgeois, who suffered abuse from a priest in the 1980s, told the AP. “It forces me to question what other secrets are being withheld. I’m angry, hurt and re-traumatized again.”

U.S. District Court Judge Jay Zainey was copied by Saints staff on emails, and sent Bensel a message from his personal address thanking him “for the wonderful advice” (as did one of the newspaper editors, the AP reported).

“You have hit all the points,” Zainey wrote. “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.”

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

Jeff Kaplan

Letting PE Invest in Family-Owned Teams Is a ‘Watershed’

Liquidity gives owners greater flexibility to manage salary cap.

NFL Likely to Stay With CBS, Targeting Mass Renegotiation in 2029

The league instead looks toward a broader set of contract opt-outs.
Feb 5, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell during the NFLPA press conference at the Super Bowl LIX media center at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

NFLPA Head Has Side Hustle With PE Firm That Can Invest in..

The NFLPA’s executive director is embroiled in multiple controversies.

Deion Sanders Rips ‘Bulljunk’ in CFB, Calls for NFL-Style Salary Cap

Coach Prime is frustrated with the new revenue-sharing era.

Featured Today

Rimouski, QC - JUNE 1: Final Game of the 2025 Memorial Cup between the Medicine Hats Tigers and the London Knights on June 1, 2025, at the Colisée Financière Sun Life in Rimouski, Qc.

CHL Is Facing a ‘Pandora’s Box’ of Questions Amid NCAA Talent Departure

As players defect to college, the Canadian Hockey League won’t cede ground.
Jun 28, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh (29) bats during the game between the Texas Rangers and the Seattle Mariners at Globe Life Field.
July 9, 2025

The Torpedo Bat Business Is Still Going Strong: ‘Here to Stay’

Demand for the oddly shaped bats has stayed strong across the sport.
July 6, 2025

American Celebs Want to Be Sports Owners. Soccer Is Where They Start

As U.S. team prices climb, investors set their sights abroad.
July 5, 2025

Baseball’s Celebrity Row: Behind MLB’s First-Pitch Ritual

Often planned, sometimes spontaneous, the ritual throw is baseball’s celebrity row.
Alex Sarr

Wizards Pushing Limits of Youth With 11 Players on Rookie Deals

Washington’s 2025 first-round pick is top-eight protected.
Chelsea
July 8, 2025

Chelsea Club World Cup Run Banks at Least $100M for Mark Walter..

The Blues will likely take home between $100 million and $120 million.
July 9, 2025

From Dynasty to Disarray: Red Bull Fires Christian Horner

He served as Red Bull team principal for more than two decades.
Sponsored

Game On: Portfolio Players Stories, Brought to You by E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley

Dealmaker Jeffrey Kaplan maps the evolution of sports as an asset class
July 8, 2025

Texas Sports Teams, Leagues Donate Over $5M to Flood Relief

NFL, MLB, and NBA teams in Texas donate to flood recovery efforts.
Chelsea
July 8, 2025

Club World Cup Semis Are Battle to Make Richest Soccer Final Ever

Semifinalists have each earned at least $60 million from the tournament so far.
July 7, 2025

Nationals Hit Reset Button, Oust Rizzo and Martinez Before Draft

The MLB club made major leadership changes just days before the draft.
July 6, 2025

Liverpool to Pay Diogo Jota’s $20M Contract to His Widow

Jota had two years remaining on his contract.