Jim Beam column:Second Harvest news unsettling

Published 6:17 am Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Some news about Second Harvest Food Bank, one of my favorite charities, is extremely disturbing. Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans last Thursday fired the longtime CEO of Second Harvest and three members of the  nonprofit organization’s board of directors.

The Advocate in its report of the firings said they appear to be tied to the church’s efforts to settle its long-running bankruptcy case. Bert Wilson, the chairman of the Second Harvest board of directors who was fired, in a news release said the church placed pressure on Second Harvest to contribute as much as $16 million toward settling clergy sex abuse claims in the nearly 5-year-old bankruptcy case.

Wilson said CEO Natalie Jayroe “resolutely refused to reallocate donor funds that are solely intended to help alleviate hunger and food insecurity in south Louisiana.” He indicated she had no other choice.

Email newsletter signup

The newspaper said the archdiocese gave no reason in a prepared statement for its decision to remove Jayroe from her 19-year post of the organization that provides food to 400,000 needy residents in 23 parishes.

Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron and Jeff Davis parishes are among those 23 parishes. The others stretch along Louisiana’s southern coast. Water’s Edge Church in Lake Charles has participated with Second Harvest by hosting food drives and being listed as a location where Second Harvest delivers food in Calcasieu Parish.

The archdiocese in its statement said the agency will be bringing a new leader with refreshed vision to build on a strong foundation and to strengthen the spiritual dimension of Second Harvest.

Many who contribute to Second Harvest may not know it was founded in 1982 by Archbishop Philip Hannan, Bishop Roger P. Morin and Gregory Ben Johnson, director of the Social Apostolate of the Archdiocese.

In a letter that Aymond wrote to the Vatican in 2020 to inform them he was filing for bankruptcy, he estimated the church’s share of abuse claims was about $7 million, according to nola.com in a July 2024 news story. The story added that four years later legal fees alone were at nearly $40 million and more than 500 abuse survivors had filed credible claims against more than 300 clergy members.

Aymond last July said, “Our goal is to ask parishes, to require them, to contribute something they can afford but that is not so large that it will curtail their ministry. What that is, we don’t know yet.”

Nola.com said the local parishes affiliated with the archdiocese are not in bankruptcy themselves.

WWLTV Louisiana Investigator in New Orleans reported that many area Catholics were expressing outrage at the firings. The report said retired political strategist Sidney Arroyo was livid when he heard the news. He said he worked closely with Jayroe and others at Second Harvest to raise $15 million for the food bank over the years.

“It’s one of the most successful food banks in the nation,” Arroyo told WWLTV. “And they’ve done it all without a hint of scandal, without a hint of any kind of impropriety or misuse of funds. And this is what the archbishop wants to dip into as a money pot for the pedophile priests? I think that’s not only unacceptable, but I also think it’s disgusting.”

James Adams was president of the Catholic Community Foundation until 2020 when he was pressured to step down after he filed a lawsuit against the archdiocese. He said none of the 500 molestation claims filed in the abuse case have anything to do with Second Harvest.

Adams said, “Currently, the (archdiocese) is running a capital campaign to raise $75 million to help restore the (St. Louis) Cathedral. What’s to stop Archbishop Aymond from going to the Cathedral and taking those funds to help settle the bankruptcy? At least in that case, there were actual claims of abuse that occurred inside the Cathedral, but there was nothing over at Second Harvest.”

The Advocate said the church has publicly offered to pay survivors $62.5 million or $114,000 each. It added the survivors are asking for nearly $1 billion or $1.8 million each.

The archdiocese needs to take whatever steps are necessary that will separate Second Harvest from its abuse problems. It’s the only way the organization can continue its valuable mission and not lose current and future contributors.

Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than six decades. Contact him at 337-515-8871 or jim.beam.press@gmail.com.

ReplyForward

Add reaction