The Archdiocese of New Orleans faced a significant crisis due to a growing sex-abuse scandal involving accusations against priests and church employees. Gayle Benson, owner of the New Orleans Saints and a close friend of the Archbishop, initiated a collaboration to manage the situation. After a troubling local news story surfaced, Saints officials offered their crisis communications expertise to the archdiocese. This led to an extensive exchange of over 300 emails outlining strategies to mitigate the repercussions of the allegations, which included numerous lawsuits and a bankruptcy case involving hundreds of claims.
In July 2018, when Greg Bensel, the Saints' head of communications, saw a local news story revealing that a former deacon was serving in a public role at a local church, he sent an email to Ms. Benson expressing concern about the Archbishop's issues.
That exchange was the first of more than 300 emails that show the Saints and the archdiocese working together to temper the fallout from sexual abuse accusations.
The abuse accusations, which span decades, have led to dozens of civil lawsuits and out-of-court settlements, with more than 600 claims in the archdiocese's ongoing bankruptcy case.
#sex-abuse-scandal #new-orleans-saints #catholic-church #crisis-communications #archdiocese-of-new-orleans
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