Can someone explain what exactly the Saints front office did that was criminal?

I read through ESPN’s article, and it seems like a mostly a hit job to kick dirt on the Saints once again. Did I miss a criminal act of some kind?

It just says that they assisted the archdiocese with PR relations and damage control in the wake of the sex scandal as the names of all credibly-accused priests were released to the public. Is that a crime?

It seems like people are getting really emotional and assuming that the Saints did something criminal here. Every person or organization has the right to defend themselves and try to mitigate the damage even after a crime has been committed. It’s similar to having a right to a trial. You have a right to try to save your name and mitigate the damage as long as you’re not enabling any further crimes to be committed.

Most of these crime are several decades old, and dioceses have taken many steps to stop these things from happening in the future. I know there’s a zero-tolerance policy in my diocese. No clergymen currently in service in my diocese has ever been accused of sexual misconduct if any kind and, if there are any accusations, that priest is removed immediately and investigated. Also, there is very serious vetting that goes on before someone is allowed to attend the seminary now.

Once again, the crimes committed by priests of the archdiocese are heinous and reprehensible and should never ever happen to anyone. That being said, the archdiocese has a right to do PR control to try to mitigate the damage in the wake of the scandal as long as they’re not hiding any crimes or enabling any future ones.