Reprinted from the Forward:
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s representative to United Nations organizations in Geneva, noted that the Catholic Church has been “cleaning its own house” and that other institutions “could do the same” (“Vatican’s New Defense on Child Molestation Charges: Finger-pointing,” October 16).
There is validity to his statement.
While the Catholic Church was dragged kicking and screaming — and the architects of change were the media and Catholic laypeople — there’s no denying that today’s church is different.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a Charter for the Protection of Children that requires counseling for child sex-abuse victims; mandatory reporting to “public authorities” of all child sex-abuse complaints; permanent removal from ministry of any priest or deacon found guilty of even one act of sex abuse, no matter when committed; a mandatory “safe environment” for all youth programs, and mandatory background checks for church personnel.
Outstanding lay groups like Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests and Voice of the Faithful make sure these policies are implemented.
The sad and even ugly truth is that after all the recent headlines, arrests and convictions resulting from abuse scandals, no comparable system exists for American yeshivas. Our ancient rabbis teach, “We should believe there is wisdom among the nations of the world.” This lesson needs to be applied to present-day circumstances.
I suppose nobody likes criticism from outside their own religious or cultural milieu, but facts are facts, and truth is essential if genuine and constructive change is going to occur in the Jewish world.
Elliot B. Pasik
President
Jewish Board of Advocates for Children
Long Beach, N.Y.
EVERY SIGNATURE MATTERS - THIS BILL MUST PASS!
CLICK - GOAL - 100,000 NEW SIGNATURES! 75,000 SIGNATURES HAVE ALREADY BEEN SUBMITTED TO GOVERNOR CUOMO!
EFF Urges Court to Block Dragnet Subpoenas Targeting Online Commenters
CLICK! For the full motion to quash: http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/hersh_v_cohen/UOJ-motiontoquashmemo.pdf
25 comments:
Why then is the catholic church changing its corporate structure (in Australia) so that it cannot be sued??
Only TWO weeks to go. Tropper is in the middle of legal cases and dinei Torah, he has NO right to advertise and "summon" anyone, let alone "dayanim," to come hear him pontificate!
The fourth EJF/Tropper-ego/Kaplan-Recanati bribe money/Rav Nochum Eisentsein-anger/Rav Reuven Feinstein-two faced show, aka "Dayanim Conference" is scheduled to take place November 8-10, so take note:
Tropper's sickening chutzpa and fraudulence are being exposed and his so-called major backer R REUVEN Feinstein will have to explain in court and bais din what he did with the 3 million dollars Guma Aguiar gave him, heed the call to boycott and stop any all upcoming EJF events and put Tropper out of action for all time:
Concerned Jews who fear the consequences of a fanatical and unstable Tropper hegemony over all Orthodox conversions are called to protest the upcoming Fourth Eternal Jewish Family Dayanim Conference Scheduled for November 8-10 in New Jersey. See full ad below.
If you know any of the noted speakers in the ad below, contact them and make your strong opposition to Tropper and his EJF scheme known loud and clear. Do not allow Tropper's personal power's to spread. Once he has them he wield's them ruthlessly.
Some of the slated speakers, such as R REUVEN Feinstein have allegedly been paid at least three million dollars to help Tropper and EJF, they are not trustworthy!
Urge your local rabbi, rov, posek or dayan on any Bais Din NOT to attend and to make their own protets heard. By now many rabbis are sick and tired of Tropper's antics and his controversial EJF scheme. Do not submit to Tropper's dictates under any cirmstances!
Urge your rabbis and rabbonim to RETAIN THEIR INDEPENDENCE as any self-respecting person should. Do not submit to Tropper who is a notorious control freak!
It has now been revealed that Tropper cynically uses bribes (given as "grants") to his favored rabbis to attend his free EJF events, thus entirely corrupting the integrity of the Halachic process and forcing those accepting his bribes to adhere to his extreme views that have been criticized and condemned by rabbis from the right (Badatz of Eidah Chareidis) and the left (RCA).
If you are able to, please join a vigil and protest outside of the hotel Novemebr 8-10 at the Sheraton Meadowlands in Secaucus NJ.
Full text of Tropper's and EJF's ad:
"Fourth Eternal Jewish Family Dayanim Conference Scheduled for November 8-10 in New Jersey
Written by Admin on October 13, 2009 – 12:06 pm -
PREPARATIONS WENT into high gear for the fourth EJF Dayanim Conference, which is scheduled to take place November 8-10 at the Sheraton Meadowlands in Secaucus NJ. Some 40 dayanim and Roshei Yeshiva will gather to confront crucial halachic issues that arise involving universally accepted Jewish conversion standards in intermarriage.
Most of the dayanim are part of a growing network of independent batei din in North America that have adopted the Jewish Conversion standards of leading poskim, as is being promulgated by EJF International. The Batei Din function in cities such as Baltimore, Monsey, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, New York, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Montreal, Miami, Lakewood, Dallas, Toronto, Houston, and Vancouver. Last year’s conference was addressed by such prominent Torah personalities as:
Harav Shmuel Kaminetsky, Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva of Philadelphia and a member of the Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah of Agudas Yisroel
Harav Reuven Feinstein, Rosh Yeshiva of Mesivta of Staten Island and Chairman of the Halachic Committee of EJF
Harav Dovid Olewski, Rosh Yeshiva of the Gerer Mesivta (Brooklyn)
Harav Betzalel Tuvia Wettenstein (Belzer Dayan of Monsey)
Rabbi Eliyahu Levin (Lakewood)"
The Jewish Press: Tropper's/EJF's enablers in the Orthodox media. I.
Of all the Orthodox and Jewish papers and news outlets, the Brooklyn based The Jewish Press has consistentely been Tropper's promoter and of his EJF scheme. This should not be glossed over or ignored. While Tropper and his PR minions have been able to penetrate the Hamodia as well but it's not to the same extent as he has managed to rape The Jewish Press and by extensions whoever still reads it.
Sure, as has been stated, a lot of it has to do with influence peddling because The Jewish Press remains the best known and most sought out of the Orthodox papers in New York City by politicians and judges and wannabe machers who seek its endorsements that they imagine translates into votes. The politicians are behind the curve and they are not attuned to the fact that the pendulum of Jews reading papers at all has swung in favor of right wing Charedi groups who shun and mock The Jewish Press, but in the meantime The Jewish Press is still carrying on as if it was 1970 when it's almost 2010.
The owners of The Jewish Press are a bunch of stupid yentas and bozos, they just want the money it brings them, and so far they have more than enough. Technology, relocating and firing staff has saved them millions, so they are still making it. But as for overseeing the editorial policies and writings the political endorsements, they leave that up to one man Dennis Rapps Esq, the shadow intellect of The Jewish Press, even though his name does not come up upfront, he is writing the editorials and endorsing politicians with instructions from Abe Fruchthandler who in turn clears everything with his mentor Aron Shechter of Chaim Berlin notoriety. So there you have it, cynicism incorporated.
In the meantime, they have taken on Tropper as their boychik and EJF as their krumme cause. Asside from Fruchtahndler's and Aron Shechter's blessings to go with Tropper and EJF, Fruchthandler and Shechter know ZERO and bobkes about kiruv or geirus, they are locked up in Chaim Berlin all day running the place and that's it, they fake knowledge about outside matters but they don't have it. Fruchnadler owns property, he cares only about money and his properties. The world can take a dive as far as he's concermed. Shechter only wants to leave a legacy that he is/was a "gadol" as great as his rebbe Rav Hutner, a nechtigen tog. That is one reason they "contract out" dirty work they don't know and don't like, like to Nate Segal at Torah Umesorah and to Leib Tropper at EJF two poi'erim in the pockets of Fruchthandler and Shechter.
In addition of course, Tropper brings his own literal rewards, fattening the accounts of Menachem Lubinsky of LUBICOM who does much work for the JP, and who needs to rival his competition Mordy Mehlman at CITIcom.
But while LUBICOM is the chosen darling of the JP and Tropper/EJF -- Mordy Mehlamn of CITICOM stays clear and works with the Yated and its causes while the Monsey-based Yated editor and policies smartly stay VERY far far away from Tropper and EJF and anything to do with them. Lipshitz of the Yated is not stupid like the dumb JP bobbas and zeiddas trying to run a paper geared to today's changed Orthodox Jews.
So it's worth it to look at the kind of press releases masquerading as articles that The Jewish Press keeps on posting for Tropper and his EJF scheme.
The Jewish Press: Tropper's/EJF's enablers in the Orthodox media. II.
Since EJF was launched The Jewish Press was part and parcel of its matrix. The 2006 "dream" by 2009 is a nightmare for EJF as they must surely eat their hats and cringe in shame.
So let's see, here's the first one from June 2006, comments are added in with "[ ]" brackets:
"An Emerging Gold Standard For Conversions Editorial Board. Posted Jun 14 2006.
..Israel's Chief Rabbinate has begun to formalize - through an agreement it entered into with the Rabbinical Council of America - its historic effort to tighten the process of conversions in the U.S. and throughout the world. The Jewish Press has also learned that the chief rabbis - in addition to addressing the immediate issue of RCA conversions - are working with a new organization, the Eternal Jewish Family, to develop and implement what would amount to a Gold Standard for conversions.
[This is all gone now. Tropper killed off any chance of getting along with the RCA when he let R Nochum Eisenstein from Israel come in and humiliate the RCA and YU affiliated rabbis at the first convention. They walked out on Tropper and will have NOTHING to do with either Tropper/Eisenstin and EJF. The RCA has continued to work on its own to raise standards, while Tropper/Eisenstein have been relentlessly lobbing bombs and insults at them.]
EJF, funded by the Lillian Kaplan Foundation, is in the midst of a series of conferences around the world with the participation of the chief rabbis and other leading halachic and Torah personalities in an effort to establish standards that will lead to universally accepted conversions.
[Now over 3 years later, the credibility of the Lillian Jean Kaplan Foundation has been destroyed over who controls it and disputes over fraud. It has been shown by Guma Aguiar that he gave Tropper tens of millions of dollars to pay off and buy the participation of these rabbis that he tried to use for self-aggrandizement and not to help any cause. The whole EJF effort is now viewed as a fraudulent shallow scheme that fooled a lot of rabbis but accomplished nothing. It was fully and officially condemned and outlawed IN WRITTEN PUBLIC STATEMENTS by Rabbi Moshe Strenbuch and the entire Beth Din of the Eidah Chareidit.]
..Chief Rabbinate has encouraged the Eternal Jewish Family to develop and operate a sophisticated universal registry with common reporting forms and to create a permanent network of expert batei din that will be devoted exclusively to conversions and that will charge nominal fees.
[In light of the alleged fraud that Tropper is being accused of by guma Aguiar in the tens of millions, it looks so dumb that they asked the EJF fox to enter into the chicken pen to "protect" them.]
Such batei din are already in the process of promulgating rules that sharply restrict the participation of kiruv (outreach) rabbis from serving as judges on conversion batei din in order to avoid conflicts of interest and to promote objective decision-making.
[So why is Tropper actively joining up his EJF that's devoted to converting gentiles with other kiruv outreach organizations that are restricted? Simple. The rules always apply to everyone else but never to Tropper who deems himself above any rules.]
..effort is underway by Israel's chief rabbis to protect the integrity of the Jewish bloodline and to create a process that will result in universally accepted conversions.
[Hmm, who wrote this stuff? Jews never talk about "bloodlines" so it's stupid and dangerous. And here is that notorious phrase "universally accepted conversions" a code word for the attempt of foisting the strictest standards as Tropper and Eisenstein interpret them using terror and intimidation.]
I "suspect" that Pasik "has another agenda".
That's why I stood him up on the meeting we were supposed to have but falsely blamed him for not showing up.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1122104.html
The opening shot was fired this month by the former chairman of the Governing Board of the World Jewish Congress, Isi Liebler, who declared it “our obligation to confront the enemy within - renegade Jews - including Israelis who stand at the vanguard of global efforts to demonize and delegitimize the Jewish state.”
“Such odious Jews can be traced back to apostates during the Middle Ages who fabricated blood libels and vile distortions of Jewish religious practice for Christian anti-Semites to incite hatred which culminated in massacres,” Liebler wrote in the Jerusalem Post. “It was in response to these renegades that the herem [excommunication] was introduced.”
Jeffrey Goldberg writing in The Atlantic Monthly:
Blumenthal also mocked Elie Wiesel, to widespread laughter, apparently. Here’s a tip: Criticizing public figures who survived the Holocaust is permissible, of course. But mocking them is disgraceful.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/10/elie_wiesel_mocked_at_j_street.asp
Elie Wiesel Mocked at J Street Conference
When Shmarya (ben Alfred) Rosenberg is finished shnorring from the public for that new state of the art laptop he covets, he will need to replace his old yeshivishe clunker with a new set of wheels:
http://www.krem.com/news/Hitlers-cars-for-sale-66756092.html
John Adrain has three Mercedes-Benzes he’s been asked to sell. The cars are worth about $3 Million each, it’s $9 Million for the set. The previous owner only drove them a handful of times, the previous owner was Adolph Hitler. The $3 Million cars are 1939 G-4 Mercedes. They are in a secure location in the Midwest waiting for a buyer. Adrain is a friend of the owner; he specializes in hard to sell items. The former owner of the Imperial Palace Casino in Vegas used to own them; he says they didn’t get out much then either. The cars have six wheels, built for Hilter to drive through the blown out streets of conquered countries. There’s a parade car for Hitler and his mistress Eva Braun, a luggage car that doubled as an ambulance, and a radio car. Only eight were ever built. Adrain says selling the cars is not about the former owners, but about the history of the car. Each car is completely customized, making them each one of a kind.
While others have been picking winners, the Jewish Press has been picking it's collective nose.
Tropper is not their only loser pet cause. Anyone remember how they fought for Mordechai Tendler?
Chaim Berlin proxy Dennis Rapps may have some influence to prop up Humpty Dumpty Tropper, but ultimately it is Sidney Klass's son in law Jerry Greenwald from Manhattan Beach who calls the shots at the Jewish Mess.
The Low Klasses are a little too busy these days to be worried about Humpty Dumpty Tropper. They have their own problems with a Low Klass granddaughter being called to the witness stand in the Elior Chen child torture trial of the Low Klass great-grandchildren.
Breaking news:
Guma Aguiar Victim of Police Brutality 3 minute YouTube news clip.
Guma intimates that he was "framed" that means that he goes after Kaplan and Tropper too.
True story.
There was a din Torah at Jerry Greenwald's shul in Manhattan Beach because someone dropped off a bottle of extremely expensive Scotch during the week for a simcha he was making on Shabbos. A bunch of fressers found the bottle on Thursday night and polished it off to the last drop.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_DCGOA_RlajQ/SumrQBJ-ZaI/AAAAAAAAEFc/j7DIx7O2Hiw/s1600-h/food+stamp.jpg
UOJ can add this to his cartoon gallery.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/business/businessspecial3/29HORSE.html
Buyer’s Market in Horses
The Jewish Press: Tropper's/EJF's enablers in the Orthodox media. III.
Here's a JP online article from November 2007, comments are added in with the "[ ]" brackets:
The Jewish Press
Conversions And Controversy
Editorial Board
Posted Nov 21 2007
A brief news item in last week's Jewish Press reported on the latest conference of the Eternal Jewish Family, an organization intent on formulating universal standards for Jewish conversions.
[You know, this is coming from the "Editorial Board" yet it's impossible to tell if it's the "Editorial Board" of The Jewish Press or the "Editorial Board" of EJF, as they obviously talk in unison. If it's Dennis Rapps Esq writing then of course it's no contradiction because in his mind "The Jewish Press"="EJF's newsletter" so there is no problem in Dennis's mind while any objective critical reader can see through it and judge for themselves how krum and disjointed it sounds for a Religious Zionist Modern Orthodox oriented and owned paper to speak for ultra right Charedim in EJF.]
As was the case with its four earlier sessions, the group brought together notables from the Torah world - respected roshei yeshiva, leading poskim and prominent pulpit rabbis - to identify and promote a conversion process that would pass muster across the spectrum of Jewish life while alleviating the horror of conversions that are problematic because of questions about the procedures that were followed or the credentials of the overseers.
[Indeed, and as has now been revealed Tropper funneled literally tens of millions of dollars from Tom Kaplan and Guma Aguiar into the pockets of the rabbis they chose, starting from REUVEN Feinstein himself who was bought off with start up money of three million dollars that went from Guma Aguiar into Rav Reuven's own pockets. And that's just to start. Dozens more were bought off and compromised as Guma Aguiar reveals formerly private correspondence between himself and Tropper about channeling money to rabbis which Tropper didn't even do as he promised but fraudulently kept back some.]
The enterprise would seem to be one of those things about which there should be no dispute. But the long knives are coming out nonetheless.
[No, the expert with the "long knives" is Tropper and his buddy Leib Pinter who is now in jail for fraud, who undertook a "long knives" hit-job to annihilate and crush Natan Slifkin, the zoo rabbi because they hated his open-minded ideas and books. The long knives are at work when Tropper forges letters from rabbis for all sorts of reasons to attain his nefarious goals. So The Jewish Press loses all its credibility when it defends a low-life like Tropper who has bought them off, throwing them a losing lifeline to look good and save face but the Charedim won't buy it in any case like they don't waste their weekly $1 on the paper when they buy their Shabbos groceries.]
There are those who are not part of the Eternal Jewish Family team that are taking umbrage at its increasing success in the area of conversions.
[Good one. What "umbrage"? Are the EJF "team" happy now that they are revealed as crooks, scam artists, forgers, and bribers par excellence?]
Frustration at not being accepted as the last word on conversions has, from the beginning, been a sore point with veteran conversion practitioners and rabbinic groups that preexisted the EJF (which, among other things, has directed the establishment of regional religious conversion courts that apply its standards and abide by its cap on what converts may be charged).
[This just shows that bigger minds than Tropper's were behind it, like Aron Shechter for one who hates the Modern Orthodox RCA more than Tropper and is a bigger control freak than any rosh yeshiva on Earth, so Tropper plays right into his hands. But by now he has not had his name tied in with Tropper because of all of Tropper's self-destruction and public self-immolation.]
The Jewish Press: Tropper's/EJF's enablers in the Orthodox media. IV.
Continuing with the JP online article from November 2007, comments added in with "[ ]" brackets:
Unfortunately, a new dimension to the challenges has emerged.
[Why is it "unfortunate"? Look how far the JP is in bed with EJF, Dennis Rapps Esq is orgasmic about the EJF-JP union and between him and Tropper that they feel every ounce of its pain as if they were conjoined twins.]
In order to secure the recognition of the most stringent haredi communities, EJF early on enlisted the involvement of such luminaries as Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, Rav Ovadia Yosef and the Israeli Chief Rabbinate in Israel and Rav Reuven Feinstein here in the U.S. There has also been support on the part of, among others, Rav Dov Povarky, Rav Moshe Shapiro, Rav Ahron Schechter, Rav Hillel David and Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky.
[Hillel David's name is nothing, he is puppet of Shechter, same goes for Moshe Shapiro, and what can Povarsky do here? just puppets of Shechter. Shmuel Kaminetsky has no real power, and he had a falling out with Shechter over the Isaac Hersh affair. But all the same, all this talk about how great rabbis support EJF has been revealed as so much bull-shit and paid for drivel as the correspondence from Tropper to Guma Aguiar makes clear in the recent damaging article: "Jewish Billionaire Sues Prominent US Rabbi Arutz Sheva, 10/08/09: According to an email in Aguiar's inbox dated December 10, 2007 with the subject "36 names," Mrs. Shain, a secretary at Rabbi Tropper's Horizons organization, writes to Aguiar:
"The following are the 36 rabbis Rabbi Tropper reviewed - most of them with you. The ones in bold have not ever received checks from us.
Subj: 36 names Date 12/10/2007
The following are the 36 rabbis Rabbi tropper reviewed - most of them with you. The ones in bold have not ever received checks from us...Mrs. Shain.
1)Rav Yehuda Addas
2)Rav Shaul Alter
3)Rav Shmuel Auerbach
4)Rav Shalom Cohen
5)Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv
6)Erloy Rebbe - Rav Yochanan Sofer
7)Rav Boruch Ezrachi
8)Rav Dovid Feinstein - US
9)Rav Shmuel Kaminetzky - US
10)Rav Chaim Kanievsky
11)Rav Nissim Karelitz
12)Rav Boruch Dov Povarsky
13)Rav Shmuel Deutsch
14)Rav Aaron Schechter - US
15)Rav Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg
16)Rav Moshe Shapiro
17)Rav Yitzchok Scheiner
18)Rav Chaim Stein - US
19)Rav Aron Leib Steinman
20)Rav Moshe Tzadka
21)Rav Mendel Weinbach
22)Rav Nota Schiller
23)Rav Shmuel Wosner
24)Rav Ovadiah Yosef
25)Rav Eliyahu Levine - US
26)Rav Elya B Wachtfogel - US
27)Rav Reuven Feinstein - US
28)Rav Reuven Meir Katz - Israel
29)Rav Shmuel Eliezer Stern - Israel
30)Rav Meir Hershkowitz
31)Rav Naftaly Kaplan - Israel
32)Rav Schreiber - Israel
34)Rav M Marcus - US
35)Rav C Solomon - US
36)Rav M Y Lefkowitz
Regarding the list, Aguiar says, 'I didn't know these particular rabbis. He [Rabbi Tropper] did, or he said he did. The fraud committed by Tropper is currently being investigated by authorities in the United States.' Aguiar is referring to Rabbi Tropper's part in a multi-billion dollar law-suit in which Aguiar faces off with several parties including his uncle and aunt Thomas S. Kaplan and Daphne Recanati Kaplan. Rabbi Tropper is scheduled to be deposed in that trial later this month."]
The Jewish Press: Tropper's/EJF's enablers in the Orthodox media. V.
Concluding the JP online article from November 2007, comments added in with "[ ]" brackets:
There are, however, voices from within the haredi world that have taken to questioning the bona fides of EJF despite the imprimatur of Rav Elyashiv and the other gedolim. To be sure, those leading the new charge have in the past made a point of tweaking Rav Elyashiv and others in the haredi hierarchy on various issues. And they have employed the time-honored device of approaching a posek, ex parte, for a p'sak regarding a litany of facts that may include a number of halahic no-nos but that do not necessarily have anything to do with the intended target. The inevitable negative ruling, though, is then spun as being directed at that target.
[Just listen to Dennis Rapps Esq spin his legal eagle wheels in defense of EJF, Tropper couldn't and DOESN'T do it better himself. And the lies. Rav Elyashiv never said or meant and certainly never wrote that EJF is allowed to conduct outreach programs like missionaries to gentiles and bring them over for EJF conversions by the boatload as EJF advertises and wants to do. They are creating mountains of "approval" and "heterim" out of molehills and even the molehills are non-existent.]
[This is not to take sides in a public row that is only bound to escalate in the coming weeks.]
[Hahahahahaha, they are "not" taking sides?????!!!!! Hahahahahahahahaha, phew!!!]
We do, however, recognize the great strides achieved by EJF
[Maybe in 2006/7 it MAY have looked that way to the besoted and bought off Dennis Rapps esq and his ilk burping the good glatt food from all the free EJF give-away conventions for rabbis and goyim alike, but by 2009/10 it is a far darker and terrible picture for Tropper in enveloped by court cases and dinei Torah and is stripped of his multiple fake disguises as EJF loses credibility and bites the dust not so slowly.]
on an issue that has long vexed the religious community and hope that the important work of standardizing the conversion process will not be derailed, even momentarily.
[Jawohl mein her. Don't you realize what a stupid idiot you sound like and how you drag The Jewish Press into the mud by praising crooks and their crooked schemes? Gosh.]
Now he convinces Democrats in Congress to give a tax break (refund) to ANYONE buying a house.
Where is the money coming from?
The financial incentive offered in Chicago for mesirah is very scary. This is what they did in Nazi Germany, the history is clear. It started with maneuvers like this, then included rewards for turning in people opposed to the government, then they paid cash for anyone hiding Jews, then they went on to include encouraging children (using their obvious innocence and naitivity) to turn in their parents, or report the details of their closed door conversations to the government.
Everything can be brought to your local Bais Din and solved. The whole idea of mesira for violence/abuse against other frum Yidden is the work of Sonei Yisroel. There is no situation where involving goyish authorities is allowed.
Church settles abuse for $4.24M
Author: Dana Clark Felty
The Catholic Diocese of Savannah has agreed to pay more than $4 million to the alleged victim of an abusive former priest in order to avoid going to trial.
The Diocese released a statement Wednesday afternoon announcing the $4.24 million agreement reached with former St. James Catholic School student Allan Ranta Jr.
Ranta had filed a complaint in a Jasper County, S.C., civil court stating he was molested from 1978 to 1983, starting when he was 10 years old, by former priest Wayland Y. Brown.
Ranta claimed former Savannah Bishop Raymond Lessard and other diocesan officials knew Brown posed a danger to children but failed to take action.
Brown, 66, was convicted in 2003 of sexually abusing two Maryland boys, ages 12 and 13, in 1974. He was released from prison in April 2008 after serving half of his sentence and now is listed on the Maryland Sex Offender Registry as living in Baltimore.
Ranta's attorney, Larry Richter, described the settlement as "giant" but appropriate considering the type of abuse involved and the degree to which he says diocesan officials ignored warning signs.
Richter said the settlement doesn't include $200,000 already paid to Ranta for medical treatment relating to the alleged abuse.
In the diocese's written statement, Savannah Bishop J. Kevin Boland apologized.
"I am sorry for all the pain and suffering experienced by Mr. Ranta, and my prayers go out not only to him, but to all victims of child sexual abuse that each may find the healing they seek," Boland said in the statement posted on the diocese's Web site.
Richter described Boland's apology as "insufficient."
"We call on Bishop (J.) Kevin Boland and all bishops to identify publicly known abuser priests," Richter said. "We repeatedly called on (the Charleston) diocese to do it. Of course it didn't. And we've called repeatedly on the Diocese of Savannah to make such identifications, and that hasn't happened either."
Based in Mount Pleasant, S.C., Richter won a $12 million class-action settlement against the Catholic Diocese of Charleston in 2007.
The settlement with Ranta releases the Savannah diocese, Lessard and Boland as parties to the lawsuit. Ranta will continue his civil case against Brown, Richter said. A hearing is scheduled for Dec. 7.
Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul, Minn., attorney who has represented hundreds of victims across the U.S. for 25 years, said the Savannah diocese's settlement represents the second largest payout to an individual in the history of the priest sex abuse scandal.
"It demonstrates that the liability and the legal responsibility of the Diocese of Savannah and its officials was extraordinarily aggravated," Anderson said.
The largest individual payout to date came in 2001, when two California dioceses agreed to pay $5.2 million to Ryan DiMaria, a man who claimed he had been sexually abused as a teenager by a priest at a church high school.
Victim advocates said the settlement is bittersweet.
"For every individual survivor, a settlement does in fact represent a hard-earned, long overdue validation and closure," said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
"In the larger context, though, every settlement also represents a victory for bishops who want to continue to hide the truth. There's no denying that more cover-up by the hierarchy is exposed when cases go to trial."
The Savannah diocese says since 2002 it has provided "safe environment training" to volunteers and staff who work with children and has hired an independent auditing agency to review practices relating to the protection of children.
Until Wednesday, the diocese had paid about $400,000 for various types of treatments for victims of sexual abuse, said spokeswoman Barbara King.
Special in Chicago @ 5:01 is conclusively wrong. There are many instances in which halacha clearly sanctions going to arkaos. Open Shulchan Aruch. In fact, it is commonplace for dayanim to send someone to arkaos to work out certain affairs that cannot be resolved in beis din, though the heter to do so must be given. You may have a point (I'm not connected or anywhere near Chicago and don't know facts) that the way to beis din is paved with shochad. That is certainly a tragic form of corruption if it exists. Check your halachos before hitting the send or publish button.
Remember Henry McMaster, South Carolina's state attorney general, the man who was shocked, shocked, shocked [sic, sic, sic] to find illicit sex on Craigslist and earlier this year threatened to file charges against the Web's No. 1 classifieds site? Perhaps McMaster would do well to police his own office before going after anyone else.
Roland Corning, a nine-year employee of the state's attorney general's office, was stopped by police after being found in a Columbia, S.C., cemetery while in the company of an 18-year-old female stripper and in possession of assorted sex toys, according to a report about the incident in the blog Fitsnews.com. The online unit of The State, South Carolina's largest newspaper, verified the report.
Apparently, the cemetery is a hot spot for sexual encounters, both publications reported. Corning, 66, was not arrested after identifying himself to police as a prosecutor, but The Associated Press reported he was later fired by his boss, McMaster.
WASHINGTON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - The Obama administration's new proposal for tackling financial risk in the U.S. economy, unveiled just two days ago, came under attack on Thursday from Congress and regulators, with questions raised about its funding and scope.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner scrambled in a congressional hearing to defend the plan against critics who said it would give too much power to regulators and enshrine government bailouts for troubled financial firms in law.
Special In Chicago, it is so evident that you consider yourself a "Special Asset" and feel yourself above the law. You have a sick and indecent humor by bringing up Nazi references to justify your criminal behaviors.
But, now that you chose this Nazi references it's time to listen closely. Cheating on taxes, bank fraud, and mortgage fraud are bad enough. Being a Rodef and encouraging others to do similar is why the "Special Assets" in the city will be revealed. Much the same as Al Capone, we'll getcha on a technicality buddies.
Guests of Honor or Dinner Chairman titles won't keep you out of trouble. Only you, control your destiny Nazi sympathizer. Get your ego in check, uber azoi schnell.
http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-noho-synagogue-shooting,0,5720530.story
NORTH HOLLYWOOD -- Police investigating a double shooting at a synagogue are looking into whether the shootings were related to a business or personal dispute.
Detectives now believe one of the victims was the target, and that a second victim may have been shot because he witnessed the attack.
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_13668040
A gunman shot and wounded two men in the parking garage of a North Hollywood synagogue Thursday, frightening worshippers who heard gunshots and screams before the bleeding victims stumbled in during morning services.
The victims, identified as Mori Ben-Nissan, 38, and Allen Lasry, 53, are in good condition and expected to survive.
Authorities initially put Jewish schools and temples on alert before saying the attack appeared to be isolated.
Police stepped up security around area South Bay synagogues Thursday morning after the shooting, but local clergy said they weren't worried about safety.
"We have very good communication with police," said Rabbi Yossi Mintz of Beach Cities Chabad in Redondo Beach, one of the largest South Bay synagogues. "It's always good to be on the safe side."
Shortly after the shooting, police detained a 17-year-old high school student near the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic Orthodox synagogue in the San Fernando Valley, where the shooting took place. The student matched a "very loose" description of the attacker, who was described only as a black man wearing a hoodie, Deputy Police Chief Michel Moore said.
Authorities later released the youth, saying while he was still a potential suspect, they didn't have enough evidence to hold him.
Both victims were shot in the legs, Moore said. The men, who are members of the synagogue, arrived in separate cars for the morning service shortly before 6:30 a.m. and were in a stairwell leading up to the synagogue sanctuary when the gunman shot them several times, police said.
The victims told police the attacker did not speak before shooting, Moore said.
One worshipper, Yehuda Oz, said he and about 14 others were praying in the temple when they heard four gunshots and screams from the parking area. Two men stumbled into the temple, Oz said, and people rushed to stop their bleeding.
No one saw the attacker, he said.
"Maybe it was crazy person," Yehuda told the Los Angeles Times. "Maybe he was drugged up. Maybe it was a Jew. We don't know."
Even as investigators tried to find a motive, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other officials moved to calm fears that the attack was part of any organized anti-Semitic violence.
"Adat Yeshurun is a Sephardic synagogue, which means it would attract primarily Jews from Morocco, Yemen, Israelis, some Persians," Cooper said.
Reliable sources in Passaic, NJ believe there is strong evidence that NJ Assemblyman Gary Schaer is a homosexual.
Searching the homosexual book "Wrestling with God" on www.amazon.com for "Gary Schaer" will return an acknowlegement to him.
See the A3451 bill sponsored by Schaer and Neil Cohen.
www.njleg.state.nj.us/2006/Bills/A3500/3451_R2.PDF
This sham bill, apparently signed into law already, claims to prevent religious discrimination but in fact is a fascist
homosexual "rights" bill which brutally tramples the constitutional rights of religious heterosexuals.
Meanwhile Mr. Neil Cohen has been charged with child pornography:
http://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases09/pr20090709a.html
Even the "Orthodox" Agudah rabbis are getting in on the action.
http://njjewishnews.com/article/statewide/orthodox-leaders-honor-helpful-state-politicians/
None of this toeivah has prevented many of the so-called "Orthodox" rabbis of Passaic from supporting Mr. Schaer.
Why are so-called Orthodox rabbis in Passaic bending over backwards (so to speak) to support Mr. Schaer and his homo-fascist agenda hiding behind religious accomodation laws?
Were the starry eyed Baalei Tshuvas in the Ahavas Israel shul aware of Schaer's true agenda or were they bamboozled by Ahavas Boss Yitzchak Eisenman?
http://www.politickernj.com/andrew-schwab/18277/schaer-religious-accommodation-laws-all-new-jerseyans-signed-governor-corzine
Word on the street has it that Rabbi Yehuda Levin, who will speak on 620AM tonight, may discuss the Schaer / Passaic debacle.
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