New Orleans Catholic Church denies ousting food bank leaders for failing to finance abuse payouts

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The archbishop of New Orleans’ Catholic Church denies he ousted top leadership at a church-affiliated food bank in Louisiana for refusing to redirect millions of dollars to support clergy sexual abuse settlements, according to a video statement he published this week.

Two fired board members have issued statements saying they were removed last week by Archbishop Gregory Aymond of the Archdiocese of New Orleans after resisting pressure to channel as much as $16 million to support the church’s long-running bankruptcy negotiations with hundreds of sexual abuse survivors.

The Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana says that it provides upwards of 39 million pounds of food and groceries to hundreds of thousands of families across South Louisiana annually.

CEO Natalie Jayroe, who led the organization for 19 years before being fired, “resolutely refused to reallocate donor funds that are solely intended to help alleviate hunger and food insecurity in south Louisiana,” according to a Jan. 30 statement by dismissed board chair Bert Wilson issued via a public relations firm.

Jayroe did not respond to a request for comment sent via LinkedIn Wednesday.

Wilson expressed “tremendous sympathy” for survivors of clergy abuse but said that taking money from the food bank would be “as morally inappropriate as it is legally unsubstantiated,” based on agreements with donors.

Aymond said he rejected “the characterizations of the archdiocese as stealing money from the hungry” in a video posted on his Facebook page Monday.

Aymond said members of the Second Harvest board had repeatedly asked him to withdraw from his position overseeing the nonprofit. The archbishop has the sole power to remove Second Harvest executives and board members, according to the nonprofit’s articles of incorporation, viewed by The Associated Press.

The $16 million was “discussed in theory and conversation” as a means for Second Harvest to purchase assets owned by the church and “completely separate itself,” Aymond said.

He said the decision to remove the CEO and board members was made because they refused to sign a “tolling agreement” that shielded third-party entities affiliated with the Catholic Church from liability during the bankruptcy negotiations, adding that the deadline to sign was Jan. 31.

In response to Aymond’s video, fired board member Nick Karl contended the deadline to sign, set by a court, was actually May 1 and that the Second Harvest executive team had been in the process of reviewing it.

“That the Archdiocese jumped the gun by terminating three longtime board members and the non-profit’s CEO speaks volumes regarding their motivations,” Karl said.

He said the archbishop made no commitment against drawing on Second Harvest funds to help settle the church’s bankruptcy claims in the future.

Aymond appointed Dirk Wild, the archdiocese’s chief financial officer, as interim CEO and named three new board members. Second Harvest’s priority is to “ensure day-to-day operations will remain on schedule and services will continue uninterrupted,” Aymond and Wild said in a joint statement released last week.

Wild did not respond to text messages or phone calls requesting comment Wednesday. Archdiocese of New Orleans Communications Director Sarah McDonald declined to comment.

“No dollars have and no dollars will go towards anything...other than food security,” Second Harvest Chief Strategy Officer John Sillars said. He said the nonprofit is seeking to reassure donors that their projects will continue as planned.

Second Harvest donor Feeding America said in a statement that it was important to honor commitments to ensure “resources are used for their intended purposes.”

James Adams, a survivor of clergy abuse who has sued the archdiocese, said Aymond could “easily remove” the food bank from his control and allow the nonprofit to carry on its work unimpeded.

“The survivors just want this matter settled,” Adams said of the abuse lawsuits. “The archdiocese is leaving their creditors with no choice if they wish to try and come to a settlement but to go to all the assets that are under the control of the archbishop.”

Aymond has rebuffed calls by survivors of abuse to resign as the New Orleans church has faced federal investigations and scrutiny over its failure to take action on credible allegations against priests going back decades. An investigation by The Associated Press also exposed the role of executives with the NFL’s New Orleans Saints in helping the church engage in damage control.

The church has sold more than $13 million worth of properties as it raises funds to pay survivors, Nola.com reported in December.

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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on the social platform X: @jack_brook96.