New Orleans       New Orleans and most of south Louisiana has historically been a Catholic Church heartland, large enough to have an archdiocese, seemingly forever, and to make Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday, and for a long time, fish on Fridays, something close to local laws.  Like so many areas of the United States, the numbers aren’t what they used to be, as church attendance and commitments have decreased as part of modern life.  Of course, the sexual abuse by priests and coverups by church officials have plagued the New Orleans Archdiocese, as they have in so many other Catholic parishes and dioceses.

Five years ago, the New Orleans Archdiocese was forced to declare bankruptcy.  As the Times-Picayune Advocate reports, now trying to finally deal with this mess, “Attorneys for the archdiocese and the committee that represents the more than 550 survivors who allege they were raped or molested by Catholic priests and deacons, often decades ago, are trying to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to fund a settlement.  The church has publicly offered to pay survivors $62.5 million or $114,000 each.  The survivors are asking for nearly $1 billion, or $1.8 million each.”   More than the devil is in these details, as the cascade of stories continues on the church’s no holds barred shakedown to raise the money.

In one day, recently, there were two stories reflecting the ruthlessness of the archdiocese in this quest.  The Second Harvest Food Bank does what you would expect by feeding low-income families, the homeless, and the hungry.  The archbishop summarily dismissed the food bank’s CEO, who had been in the position for two decades, as well as a number of members of the board of the nonprofit, which, it turns out to their peril, is an affiliate of the archdiocese.  The problem plain and simple was that the archdiocese seems to have demanded $16 million to help pay for the settlement, and the CEO and the board had the temerity to resist because “…agreements with grant giving organizations and other partners prohibit any expenditures that are nonsecular or do not directly align with our sole mission of feeding the hungry.”  Not surprisingly, donors aren’t happy.  Talk about being forced to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea!

There’s more.  Marie Couvent, a former slave, born in West Africa, at her death in 1837 gave land in the Marigny neighborhood, on Dauphine Street, abutting the French Quarter, to the church, stipulating that, “…my land …will be forever dedicated and employed for the establishment of a free school for the orphans of color of the Faubourg Marigny…I intend that the said land and buildings will never be sold under any pretext whatsoever.”  The area of course has become gentrified and increased in value, especially since it didn’t flood in Hurricane Katrina.  The archdiocese largely hewed closely to the will until recent years.  Desperate for cash, regardless of the unambiguous terms of Couvent’s will, they are trying to sell the property to commercial developers to raise money for their settlement.  There seem to be no limits in the extremes to which the archdiocese is going now.

Now, another shoe drops with a big thud, but it’s shaped more like a pair of football cleats, as a prominent story in The New York Times reports that the locally beloved New Orleans Saints have been assisting the archbishop and archdiocese behind the scenes to deal with the media and legal fallout from these sexual abuse scandals.  The Benson family, owners of the Saints, and now in the hands of Gail Benson, have also been cheek to jowl with the church for years.  Their foundation has gifted the archdiocese over $70 million during that period.  As the Times reports, “… more than 300 emails, obtained by The New York Times, … show the Saints and the archdiocese working together to temper the fallout from a flood of sexual abuse accusations made against priests and church employees.”   There’s a lot to this deal, and some of this mess sticks on the shoes of the controversial former District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro, and whether or not with the Saints intercession some names of abusive priests were left off the list when it was finally made public.  There are definitely more Saints fans than there are Catholics in the city now, making this even more of a hot mess.

From the cheap seats, I have to wonder what Pope Francis would say, given his commitment to support the poor and racial minorities, about the archdiocese robbing Peter to pay Paul.  The pope also knows the difference between saints, as recognized by the church, and those less saintly in pursuit of fame and riches on the football field.   He also doesn’t likely care about the impact of the upcoming Super Bowl.  None of this is a good look.  More than the team seems to need a new coach.