NFL's New Orleans Saints in court bid to stop release of emails linked to Catholic child abuse scandal
© AFP
The New Orleans Saints are to argue in court that the public should not be permitted to see emails which allegedly show team executives giving PR advice to the area's archdiocese as it battled child abuse allegations.
Legal representatives of around two dozen men who are in the process of suing the church over allegations of historical child sex abuse have said in court filings that they have obtained 276 documents which appear to show the NFL team assisting the archdiocese of New Orleans with what is claimed to be a "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," attorneys wrote in the court papers.
"The Saints realize that if the documents at issue are made public, this professional sports organization also will be smearing itself."
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| AB Aymond |
In reply, Saints attorneys called these claims "outrageous," further saying that the emails - which were sent in 2018 and 2019 - were not intended for public consumption and should not be "fodder for the public." The archdiocese has also noted their opposition to the release of the emails.
The emails are said to show that numerous people within the Saints organization, including senior vice president of communications Greg Bensel, advised the church on how to soften the impact of child sex abuse allegations.
The NFL were made aware of the matter by the plaintiffs' legal representatives, because the alleged emails are understood have been sent using the NFL.com domain, though they have yet to publicly comment on the case.
There is no indication yet as to whether the Saints will face any form of punishment if indeed these allegations are found to have merit, however league rules dictate that anyone engaging in "conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence" of the NFL is subject to censure.
The owner of the New Orleans Saints, Gayle Benson, is known to be a deeply religious person and maintains a close friendship with New Orleans archbishop Gregory Aymond. Benson has given millions of dollars in charitable donations to causes related to the church.
"The information at issue bears a relationship to these crimes because it is a continuation of the Archdiocese’s pattern and practice of concealing its crimes so that the public does not discover its criminal behavior,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote, via the Associated Press. "And the Saints joined in."
The Saints declined to comment when questioned on the matter on Friday but the team's legal representatives acknowledged the court filings, while a lawyer for the archdiocese said in recent days that the plaintiff attorneys seeking to have the emails made public were taking part in a "proverbial witch hunt with respect to decades-old abuse."
E Dirk Wegmann argued that attorneys' reasons for wanting the emails to be made public is aimed solely at creating a media frenzy to "unfairly try to tar and feather the archdiocese."
Why would it be unfair? Seems to me that mitigating their horrific sins through public relations schemes, is what is really unfair. At the least, it is an indication that the New Orleans diocese has not come to a state of repentance for its evils, nor has it developed any conscience or fear of God.
Priest Charged With Child Sex Crimes
Diocese Knew of Hid Pedophilia Since 1987
The affidavit said Brown, who served in at least four parishes beginning in the 1980s, admitted to sexually abusing multiple children in North Texas. Brown told detectives that the Diocese of Dallas "knew about sexual abuse allegations against him in 1987."
Brown said the Diocese responded by moving him to a different church and that years later another priest caught him with a victim and again, he was sent to another church.
At one point the Diocese sent Brown for psychological evaluation after an allegation was made against him. A psychologist's wrote in 1994 it was his opinion was that Brown, "had a long history of pedophilic behavior."
He appears to have told one family that he had abused more than 50 girls. He also appears to have been laicized (defrocked) in about 2002.
He served at Holy Family of Nazareth in Irving, Our Lady of the Lake in Rockwall, St. Mark the Evangelist in Plano and St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Philip, both in Dallas.
Ex-Dallas, Plano priest faces second charge of
aggravated sexual assault of a child
An arrest warrant accuses Richard Thomas Brown, 78, of
abusing a girl at church and her home in Collin County
Dallas police carted boxes of files from the Catholic Diocese of Dallas during a raid last May as authorities investigated allegations of sexual abuse by past clergy members.(Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)
Dallas Morning News
The priest, a friend of the family, took the young girl into her bedroom closet in Plano to hear confession, court records say. But then he exposed himself and forced her perform a sex act.
The accusations are in a new arrest warrant issued in Collin County for 78-year-old Richard Thomas Brown, a former Dallas diocesan priest.
Brown faces a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child for the second time after having been arrested on the same charge two weeks ago in Dallas County.
The Dallas County and Collin County warrants accuse Brown of molesting the same victim in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In the Collin County warrant, obtained Wednesday by The Dallas Morning News, Dallas police Detective David Clark said Brown abused the girl at her Plano home and at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in Plano, one of the North Texas parishes where the former priest was assigned.
The warrant described the girl as between 6 and 14 years old at the time of the abuse; Brown would have been between 47 and 55.
Brown was taken into custody Jan. 29 in Missouri after the first warrant was issued for his arrest. At the time, he was living in Dittmer, about 30 miles southwest of St. Louis, on property owned by the Servants of the Paraclete. The group operates a center there to “provide a safe and supportive environment for the rehabilitation and reconciliation of priests and religious brothers.”
Brown was booked into the Dallas County Jail last week and declined an interview request. He is being held at the jail, with bail set at $200,000. His attorney, Patrick McClain, said a hearing Thursday will determine his bond. Brown needs a place to stay where he can receive medical care, McClain said.
Brown, who worked as a priest for the Dallas Catholic Diocese from 1980 to 1994, was among the 31 priests named on the diocese’s “credibly accused” list last year.
In a letter to Clark in September, the diocese said Brown had been stripped of his authority “to act publicly as a priest many years ago."
Brown, who was laicized, or defrocked, in September, served at several North Texas churches after he was ordained in 1980, according to church records, including St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Philip, both in Dallas; Holy Family of Nazareth in Irving; Our Lady of the Lake in Rockwall; and St. Mark the Evangelist in Plano.
“We had cut off all financial support from him. He was getting nothing from us financially,” spokeswoman Annette Gonzales Taylor told The Dallas Morning News. “Hasn’t for a very long time.”
The criminal case against the former Dallas-area priest came together after Clark investigated for more than a year, using decades-old files stored in a diocesan office and recent interviews with Brown and the woman he’s accused of abusing when she was a child.
Personnel files that the Dallas Catholic Diocese turned over to police in December 2018 showed that a 1994 psychiatric evaluation of Brown indicated the priest “had a long history of pedophilic behavior,” the affidavit says.
In May 2019, Clark tracked Brown to an abbey in New Mexico and the former priest admitted to befriending the girl’s family and sexually molesting her, the affidavit says.
According to the most recent affidavit, Brown told Clark he became close to the girl after he befriended the family at St. Mark the Evangelist, which the girl and her family attended.
Brown said he would see the girl and her family at Mass and then would “show her around the rectory," the priests’ residence, according to court documents. He also said he frequently visited the girl’s home, where, he admitted to Clark, he touched the complainant over her clothing. “The suspect only admitted that he abused the complainant on one occasion,” the affidavit said.
In interviews with the detective, the accuser, who is now in her late 30s, said the priest visited her home repeatedly and eventually spent the night there. According to the affidavit, she “remembered having confession with the suspect in the closet of her bedroom in Plano,” where Brown allegedly exposed himself and attempted a sex act with the girl.
The priest also asked the girl to “do the readings” at Mass and brought her to the rectory at St. Mark the Evangelist to memorize her lines. Inside the rectory, Brown attempted a sex act with the girl, according to the affidavit.
The abuse took place over several years, the affidavit said, including after the priest left St. Mark’s parish. The girl told detectives she was about 14 the last time she saw Brown.
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La Crosse, Wis. diocese names 7 more priests accused of child sexual abuse
KYLE FARRIS La Crosse TribuneThe Diocese of La Crosse has released the names of seven more priests who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children.
These additions, made Wednesday, include two priests who held assignments in La Crosse and four who worked at a now defunct Jesuit boarding school in Prairie du Chien.
They are:
Benedict Adams (St. Anthony Retreat Center, Marathon)
J. Michael Cannon (Campion High School, Prairie du Chien)
Thomas R. Haller (Campion High School)
J. Roger Lucey (Campion High School)
Charles Meyer (St. Rose Convent, La Crosse)
James V. O’Connor (Campion High School)
Michael A. Spegele (St. Francis Hospital, La Crosse)
At least five of the priests have died, and the other two were long ago dismissed by the Society of Jesus. It is unclear whether Cannon (dismissed in 1997) and Haller (dismissed in 1982) are still alive, still working with children or still serving in religious roles.
Though they served within the boundaries of the La Crosse diocese, none of the seven priests were official diocesan clergy or directly overseen by the bishop.
Wednesday’s disclosure came less than three weeks after the diocese released the names of 20 priests who were credibly accused of child abuse while serving in the diocese.
The list included J. Thomas Finucan, who was president of Viterbo University in La Crosse from 1970 to 1980.
“I encourage all victims to come forward as we offer our willingness and ability to assist in the healing process,” said Bishop William Patrick Callahan, who has been directing victims and their families to the Protect and Heal page on the diocesan website.
“I pledge my continued efforts to protect against future abuse,” he said. “I promise that every future allegation will be addressed professionally and thoroughly.”
My advice - go to the police first, a lawyer second, and the diocese third.
Queensland man, charged with 17 historical
child sex abuse counts, found not guilty
ABC Capricornia By Rachel McGhee
Kevin Baker walks into Gladstone District Court to face charges allegedly committed in the 1960s.
(ABC Capricornia: Rachel McGhee)
A man accused of 17 historical child sexual abuse offences that allegedly occurred on the grounds of two Catholic orphanages near Rockhampton in the 1960s has been found not guilty.
Kevin Leslie Baker, 80, was on trial in the Gladstone District Court charged with seven counts of rape, deprivation of liberty, two counts of indecent treatment of a girl under 12, two counts of carnal knowledge, and five counts of indecent assault on a female.
The complainant, a 69-year-old woman who cannot be named for legal reasons, claimed Mr Baker consistently raped and indecently assaulted her around the grounds of the Neerkol Orphanage and Saint Brigid's facility between 1961 and 1968.
During this time she would have been between 10 and 17 years old.
WARNING: this story contains graphic content.
The complainant gave evidence to a closed court on day three of the trial and outlined each of the alleged incidents. Mr Baker took the stand on day four and completely denied ever knowing the complainant. He said he never committed any abuse or offence against her.
The jury took around three hours to come up with a not guilty verdict towards Mr Baker's 17 charges.
Timeline crucial for defence
The court heard Mr Baker arrived at Neerkol when he was six months old and left when he turned 18 in 1957.
He then moved to Rockhampton and started an apprenticeship as a baker and later moved back to Neerkol to work as a baker and yardsman in 1964. He then left again in 1974 to marry his now wife.
The court heard that while Mr Baker was living away from Neerkol the first time he visited his friend who was still living there a few times.
So, it appears he was available to rape the complainant from time to time.
The complainant moved to Neerkol with her brother in 1961 and went between the orphanage and another facility called Saint Brigid's in Rockhampton until she left in 1968.
The timeline formed part of the defence's case and defence lawyer Simon Lewis highlighted Mr Baker was not living at the orphanage for three of the years the complainant said she was abused by him.
Right, but he did visit a friend there from time to time.
Defence calls complainant 'unreliable'
Defence lawyer Simon Lewis said the allegations against Mr Baker were horrifying and argued the complainant was unreliable, dishonest, and inaccurate in her accounts.
The court heard one of these incidents involved Mr Baker and two other men who allegedly tied her to a cross, stripped her clothes, gagged her, raped her in tandem from the front and back, and put a glass bottle inside her.
The court heard the complainant first made an official report to police in 1997, 36 years after she said the first abuse allegedly occurred. Mr Lewis argued the delay in the complainant's reporting and inconsistent retelling of events since 1997 was reason to believe what she was saying was untrue.
"She's somebody that maybe is relying on fabricated or distorted things from her past. She has convinced herself these things have happened," the defence lawyer said.
He said the complainant had left out stories of abuse when reporting to police and that this too was evidence of her as an unreliable witness.
Actually that is quite typical of CSA survivor. They often start off reporting minimal events, either to see what kind of reaction that brings, or because they simply haven't recovered that memory yet.
"The incident where she said she was penetrated at the same time by two men while she was tied to a cross — which she didn't speak of when she had an opportunity to tell the police of in 1997 — she had an opportunity to tell a magistrate in 1997.
"Clearly the complainant is a very troubled woman, but this is not a court for you to be filled with sympathy … you have to assess the evidence, and the evidence is, in my respectful submission, remarkably unreliable.
"The whole story is fanciful. Something bad might have happened to her at Neerkol … clearly throughout the history in our state things have happened to kids in institutional care, but you can't shift all that blame to Mr Baker."
Prosecution said conditions must be taken into account
Crown prosecutor Nigel Rees argued the complainant was a reliable and honest witness and there was a clear explanation for her inconsistencies. "This is a word-on-word case," he said.
"It's easy for us to sit in this court room in 2020 and say 'how could this possibly happen?' Well, that was a different era."
He said the delay in the complainant's reporting of the alleged abuse was because of her distrust of authority. He said she tried telling adults, including police, of her abuse when it first happened and she was met with disinterest or punishment for telling lies.
"What does she get for her troubles? A slap across the face and sent to church to pray. Ten years old," Mr Rees said. "Is it any wonder then she doesn't trust people in authority?"
Mr Rees urged the jury to take into account the conditions around her while the alleged abuse was taking place. "Bear in mind she gave evidence as a 69-year-old, yet when this occurred she was ten years old … she's in a home with lots of children run by nuns with strict rules about what children could or could not do," he said.
"They were always telling her she was a liar and she had an overactive imagination."
'Giving birth to the devil' was 'fantastic allegation'
The court heard the complainant believed 'she became pregnant with the devil' while at Saint Brigid's and she was taken away to have it removed.
Defence lawyer Simon Lewis argued that "people who make up fantastic allegations such as her being pregnant with what she still believes was the devil and the nuns taking her to Brisbane and whisking away this devil from her" was as a clear example of her making them up.
The court heard there was no official documentation of anyone pregnant at either Neerkol or Saint Brigid's in the time the complainant was there.
Of course there wasn't. Would a Nun document taking a child to an abortionist when it was clearly both illegal and immoral?
Crown prosecutor Nigel Rees argued her beliefs of this event were understandable given her upbringing. "Here we have an impressionable young girl who at the time of having the 'devil' growing inside her [was] taught she should never speak ill of a priest because she would burn in hell," he said.
"A 14-year-old who was in a different time in a different place under the care of the nuns. Children are impressionable."
In his closing statement, Judge Michael Burnett told the jury to consider the reliability and honesty of both the complainant and Kevin Leslie Baker.
Priest in Rhode Island says abortion worse than pedophilia, which 'doesn't kill anyone'
Rev. Richard Bucci doubled down on his recent call to bar state lawmakers who supported an abortion rights bill from receiving communion at his church.
Sacred Heart Church in West Warwick, R.I.
By Janelle Griffith
A Catholic priest in Rhode Island who barred state lawmakers who supported an abortion rights bill from receiving communion at his church has doubled down on his stance, saying abortion is worse than pedophilia.
In an interview over the weekend with NBC affiliate WJAR in Providence, Rev. Richard Bucci of Sacred Heart Church in West Warwick described abortion as "the slaughter of innocent children."
"We are not talking about any other moral issue, where some may make it a comparison between pedophilia and abortion," Bucci told the station. "Pedophilia doesn't kill anyone, and this does."
There is an argument that can be made that pedophilia is much worse than abortion, which is incredibly evil, but child sexual abuse may be worse. If you believe the Bible, it says little children go to heaven when they die. An abortion is an act of horrific suffering for only a few moments and then the baby goes directly to heaven.
Child sexual abuse is the destruction of innocence, the murder of the soul of a child. It means the child will live through childhood without the joy, the curiosity, the delight of a child who has not been violated. It means their lives will be far more difficult in a myriad of ways, and that may well continue their whole lives. It also makes it far more difficult for them to have any kind of meaningful, trusting relationship with Jesus Christ - the very reason for which they were born.
I wouldn't want to have any charge like that against me when I stand before that same Jesus, especially if I was a priest!
Bucci said more children have been killed by abortion than have been abused, adding, "which is not to say that abuse is not a horrible thing."
This is also very wrong! The number of babies aborted is a small fragment of the number of children being sexually abused. The number of babies aborted in the USA in the past few years has been a little over one million per year. An astonishing number in itself, but the number of children sexually abused in those years has exceeded ten million. And to make matters worse, about 80% of them are sexually abused multiple times, some of them, thousands of times.
Sacred Heart Church declined to comment Wednesday, deferring to Bucci. NBC News reached out to Bucci for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Rev. Richard BucciRev. Richard Bucci of Sacred Heart Church in West Warwick, R.I.WJAR
Bucci's comments to the TV station followed his putting a notice out to Sacred Heart parishioners at the end of January listing the names of lawmakers who would not be allowed to receive communion at the church or participate in certain religious functions, such as acting as godparents or lectors at weddings.
The announcement came days after the Jan. 22 anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 establishing the right to abortion.
The priest's action also came months after Rhode Island in 2019 enacted the Reproductive Privacy Act to enshrine the right to abortion in state law.
The secretary of Sacred Heart Church provided a copy of the flier to NBC News. Lawmakers' names appeared below the message:
"In accord with the teaching of the Catholic Church for 2000 years, the following members of the legislature may not receive Holy Communion, as are all the officers of the state of Rhode Island, as well as Rhode Island’s members of Congress. In addition, they will not be allowed to act as witnesses to marriage, godparents, or lectors at weddings, funerals or any other church function.”
Bucci discussed this announcement in an interview with the Providence Journal.
“If they are proud of what they have done, why do they want to keep it a secret?" he said of lawmakers. "We all hear about responsibility. Let them take responsibility. If they think this is a good and wholesome and holy thing ... they should be proud of it, and why should I hide that from my parishioners?"
NBC News reached out to the Diocese of Providence on Wednesday but did not immediately hear back.
On Monday, a diocese spokeswoman, Carolyn Cronin, told WJAR that the church provides "detailed norms for preparation and reception" for each sacrament, but that it is "the pastor’s duty to apply them within his parish, in accord with Church law."
"Because the Church entrusts to each pastor the duty of teaching, sanctifying, and governing his parish, the daily pastoral and administrative decisions are made at the local parish level," Cronin said.
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