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New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson released a lengthy statement regarding the team’s involvement in a lawsuit against the local Catholic Archdiocese, detailing her relationship with Archbishop Gregory Michael Aymond and the actions taken by Saints team personnel.
A lawsuit was recently filed against the Archdiocese alleging systemic abuse by clergy, and the Saints were implicated as having gone to court to protect email correspondence with the Church during a report from the Associated Press. A later report from the plaintiffs’ attorneys provided alleged details about the involvement of Saints staffers such as Greg Bensel, the senior vice president of communications.
In her statement, Benson confirmed that Bensel was asked to help the Church’s communications staff and that she has no regrets about the recommendations he made. She also dismissed the report that any Saints personnel were involved in choosing which accused clergy’s names should be made public back in 2018. However, she doubled down on the decision to involve the Saints in the situation with the Church.
Benson wrote, “We are proud of the role we played and yes, in hindsight, we would help again to assist the Archdiocese in its ability to publish the list with the hope of taking this step to heal the community. In addition, we already turned over every email to the court and plaintiff attorneys.”
Later, attorneys representing the plaintiffs responded in a brief statement to The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate, refuting Benson’s account of the events:
John Doe's lawyers sent The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate their response to Gayle Benson's statement: pic.twitter.com/AjY4tVMxhg
— Amie Just (@Amie_Just) February 10, 2020
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