NFL’s Saints head to court in Catholic Church email dispute – By Jim Mustian (AP News) / Feb 20 2020
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Saints headed to court Thursday in a bid to block the release of hundreds of confidential emails detailing the behind-the-scenes public relations work the team did for the area’s Roman Catholic archdiocese amid its sexual abuse crisis.
The request comes amid claims that the NFL team joined the Archdiocese of New Orleans in a “pattern and practice” of concealing sexual abuse — an allegation the Saints have vehemently denied.
Attorneys for some two dozen men suing the church say the emails show team officials had a say in deciding which priests the archdiocese named on a 2018 list of dozens of “credibly accused” clergy members, a roster an Associated Press analysis found was undercounted by at least 20 names.
The Saints say their involvement was limited to a team executive preparing church leaders for the publicity surrounding the credibly accused list.
Retired Judge Carolyn Gill-Jefferson will hear arguments Thursday and recommend whether the 276 documents in question should be made public. She was appointed “special master” in the dispute by an Orleans Parish Civil District Court judge overseeing a lawsuit against the archdiocese over a longtime deacon accused of abusing schoolchildren decades ago.
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