NFL Team’s Deep Catholic Ties
Behind Role in Abuse Crisis
It’s a controversy that has led fans in New Orleans and beyond to question what exactly the Saints did for the church and whether it was appropriate
By Jim Mustian, Reese Dunklin and Brett Martel • Published on
February 12, 2020
at 11:26 am
"Why would an NFL team, even one called the Saints, strike a behind-the-scenes alliance with the Roman Catholic Church on an issue as emotionally fraught as clergy sex abuse?
It’s a question even die-hard Saints fans in this heavily Catholic city are asking, and the answer appears to lie in the powerful bond that the team's devoutly Catholic owner, Tom Benson, and his now-widow Gayle built for years with church leaders.
An Associated Press review of public tax documents found that the Bensons' foundation has given at least $62 million to the Archdiocese of New Orleans and other Catholic causes over the past dozen years, including gifts to schools, universities, charities and individual parishes.
Along the way, Archbishop Gregory Aymond, who knew the couple separately before they married in 2004, has become almost a part of the team, thought by some to bring the beloved Saints help from a higher power."
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/national-international/nfl-saints-catholic-ties-behind-role-in-abuse-crisis/2310009/
FURTHERMORE
NFL’s Saints Fight to Shield Emails in Catholic Abuse Crisis
Saints attorneys, in court papers, disputed any suggestion that the team helped the church cover up crimes
By Jim Mustian • Published on January 24, 2020 at 5:59 pm
"NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Saints are going to court to keep the public from seeing hundreds of emails that allegedly show team executives doing public relations damage control for the area's Roman Catholic archdiocese to help it contain the fallout from a burgeoning sexual abuse crisis.
Attorneys for about two dozen men suing the church say in court filings that the 276 documents they obtained through discovery show that the NFL team, whose owner is devoutly Catholic, aided the Archdiocese of New Orleans in its “pattern and practice of concealing its crimes.”
“Obviously, the Saints should not be in the business of assisting the Archdiocese, and the Saints' public relations team is not in the business of managing the public relations of criminals engaged in pedophilia," the attorneys wrote in a court filing. "The Saints realize that if the documents at issue are made public, this professional sports organization also will be smearing itself.""
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/national-international/fls-saints-fight-to-shield-emails-in-catholic-abuse-crisis/2297833/
GOING TO BE BIBLICAL