• Loading stock data...
Wednesday, July 2, 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

Ohio State

Collectives Funnel $20 Million to College Athletes on Last Day Before Revenue..

Collectives frontloaded payments just before the revenue sharing era begins July 1.
exclusive

ESPN, Fox Reluctant to Share Talent With Netflix for Christmas NFL Games

ESPN talents who worked last year’s games include Laura Rutledge and Mina Kimes.

$600M for Browns Stadium Sparks Cleveland Backlash, Possible Lawsuit

The awarding of public funds draws criticism and could bring a lawsuit.

College Sports Revenue-Sharing Underway As More Changes Loom

July 1 marks the first day schools can directly pay players.

Featured Today

The Battle Over Wimbledon’s Ambitious Expansion Plan

A classic NIMBY standoff on one of the most hallowed grounds in sports.
Seattle Rough & Tumble
June 28, 2025

Women’s Sports Bars Are on the Rise. Survival Isn’t Guaranteed

Some women’s sports bars are cashing in. Others are clawing for funding.
June 27, 2025

Shitposters Have Taken the Reins of Pro Sports’ Official Voices

Meet the social media pros turning sports teams into internet trolls.
Jun 17, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers center Sam Reinhart (13) hoists the Stanley Cup after winning game six of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers at Amerant Bank Arena
June 26, 2025

Stanley Cup’s International Summer Tour: Rules, Repairs, and Raucousness

No pro trophy tour compares to the NHL’s three-month global victory lap.
Myles Turner

Pacers Sour on Paying Luxury Tax and Let Myles Turner Walk

The team had seemed willing to cross the threshold for their center.
July 1, 2025

Bucks Shock NBA World By Waiving Lillard’s $113M Deal, Signing Turner

Damian Lillard had two years left on his deal.
Manchester City
July 1, 2025

Manchester City Pockets $50 Million for Early Club World Cup Elimination

Saudi side Al-Hilal will bank at least $35 million in its quarterfinal run.
Sponsored

Hottest Matchups Following NFL Schedule Release

The NFL released the 2025 regular-season schedule, and anticipation is already building in the ticket marketplace with four months to go.
Jun 17, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett (9) hoists the Stanley Cup after winning game six of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers at Amerant Bank Arena
July 1, 2025

Panthers Lock Up Stanley Cup–Winning Core With Long-Term Deals

Hours before free agency, Florida cemented terms with their essential players.
June 30, 2025

Nuggets, Rockets Make Aggressive Moves to Challenge Thunder

Denver took the Thunder to seven games in the conference semifinals.
June 30, 2025

Cohen’s $331M Mets Spiral Into June Swoon Despite Soto Surge

Frustrations rise as the high-spending Mets have lost 13 of 16 games.
WNBA
June 27, 2025

Portland WNBA Team President Out After Just Two Months As Launch Gets..

Portland has struggled to hire a GM, according to a source.