With survivors of clergy sexual abuse staging a small demonstration outside New Orleans Saints headquarters Wednesday, team officials doubled down on their position that they had advised the Archdiocese of New Orleans to be “fully transparent” when publishing a roster of abusive clergy in November 2018.

But spokesmen for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests countered that the public can’t know if that is the case unless it is allowed to view hundreds of emails between Saints executives and the archdiocese, which are currently under court seal.

The controversy turns on an unresolved October 2018 suit filed by a man who claims the archdiocese failed to protect him when, as an altar boy in the 1970s, he was molested by George Brignac, a suspected serial pedophile and former deacon who is currently under criminal indictment in a separate child-rape case.

Email case is a reminder of how the Saints and archdiocese formed a close relationship Court filings by the New Orleans Saints aim to keep the public from seeing hundreds of emails that show team executives helping the Archdioces…

The plaintiff’s attorneys assert that, through the discovery process, they obtained hundreds of emails which the lawyers contend show Saints executives in 2018 and 2019 aided the archdiocese in its broader, long-standing pattern of covering up abuse.

Both last week and on Wednesday, team officials denied that they covered up anything. They said they only gave the archdiocese advice on how to release a list of nearly 60 priests and deacons — including Brignac — who had been faced with credible accusations of child sexual molestation.

The Saints said Greg Bensel, the franchise's senior vice president of communications, advised the archdiocese to turn the roster over to law enforcement. The team said Bensel additionally provided advice on how to facilitate getting the list to the news media so reporters “had ample time to process the list” and ask questions before publishing articles about it.

Bensel only became involved when the archdiocese contacted Saints brass and “other community leaders” ahead of the list’s release, the team said. Aymond and Saints owner Gayle Benson, a devout Catholic, have been close friends for years.

Emails that are already a part of the public record suggest the archdiocese had been communicating with Bensel by the time the suit in question was filed.

At least one document shows Archbishop Gregory Aymond forwarded an email from an archdiocesan spokeswoman linking to a March 11, 2019, New Orleans Advocate article about how the archdiocese had reached the latest of several financial settlements pertaining to claims against Brignac.

The email to Bensel shows the spokeswoman lamenting that the media “keep rehashing this story.” Bensel’s reply, if there is one, isn’t contained in the record at this point.

Nonetheless, as The Associated Press first reported Friday, court filings from the Saints aim to keep the public from seeing the email exchanges. Attorneys for the plaintiff argue that is because the emails would expose the team’s executives as abetting a cover-up of clergy abuse.

The Saints' attorneys said they “have no interest in concealing information from the press or public” and only want the judge presiding over the case “to apply the normal rules of civil discovery to the documents that the Saints produced and delivered to” the plaintiff.

“Until the documents are admitted into evidence at a public trial or hearing in the context of relevant testimony ... by persons having knowledge of the documents and the events to which they pertain, the use of the documents should be limited to the parties to the case and their attorneys,” the Saints said Wednesday, reiterating a point they made five days earlier.

SNAP leaders Kevin Bourgeois and Richard Windmann, who have both received financial settlements after pressing clergy abuse claims, said Wednesday that the team’s posture makes them suspect the plaintiff’s attorneys are right.

“If they don’t have anything to hide, then they should release all the emails,” Bourgeois said.

Windmann added, “We’ll know (how to feel) once we see the contents of the emails. (It’s) not a matter of whether it’s our right to have the emails. … I think the victims and survivors and Saints fans — the Who Dat nation — deserve to see the emails.”

Bourgeois and Windmann organized Wednesday’s demonstration. As the two spoke with reporters, the Saints issued a statement saying they had invited SNAP to meet with the organization “anytime and discuss any topics they wish relative to (the team’s) involvement.”

“They will find that we have the same belief and feelings toward healing and care for the victims and their families,” the statement said.

The AP has filed a motion in favor of removing the emails from under seal, arguing that the action would be in the public’s interest since both the Saints and the church receive widespread support from community members.

The plaintiff's side is expected to file a motion supporting the AP's stance.

Sports Illustrated legal analyst Michael McCann last week wrote that the issue could ultimately be about more than optics for the Saints, saying the NFL’s constitution enables Commissioner Roger Goodell to suspend owners and fine them up to $500,000 for “conduct detrimental to the welfare of the league.”

At this stage, the NFL is likely simply monitoring the situation rather than preparing to take any action, said McCann, a sports law professor.

In a statement Wednesday, the Saints said the “the NFL office is completely aware of our involvement.”

The team's statement added: “Conduct detrimental is a ridiculous notion — in fact, our involvement was conduct that should be applauded, making sure there was full transparency, making sure that law enforcement was notified in advance and making sure that the full list of clergy was shared and that all credible evidence was unearthed.

“If that is cover-up or conduct detrimental, then we have different definitions.”

Goodell’s pre-Super Bowl news conference was Wednesday in Miami. He was not asked about the Saints’ situation during the session.