RTF stepped up and used his entire brand/network of people to do a fundraiser for Fr., defended it, and has been nothing but hounded and demonized by a known muckraking organization that profits on scandal as a business model: headed by a man who hid his very relevant past for over a decade and never purged himself of the liberal bully tactics and vitriol formed in him by the gay scene.
All this for having the temerarious gall, indeed foolishness to the world, to help someone based on reputation alone. RTF struck while the iron was hot and the opportunity for an action with necessary momentum was possible, providing a rally point for defense. The FSSP washed their hands of Fr. Jackson the moment they learned of his arrest.
RTF threw his entire brand on the line for a man accused of some of the most heinous things imaginable, not even personally knowing Fr. At best, RTF was going to end up with no detriment. At worst, he was risking the ruination of his life in the eyes of the world. ...for a man he doesn't even know.
There’s no scenario in which RTF would have gotten away with having positively benefitted in any secular sense from this fundraiser for Fr.; embezzling would have been too obvious and trackable, given the claims he made on how he would use and track the funds. He has always been upfront about how he intends to split the money between legal defense and private investigators' cost, which *wouldn't* be just a few thousand unless very specifically relegated to very specific actions (something he never said, and was fabricated by CMtv), such as simply running a pre-set program used by forensics investigators. In such a case, that would be like a doctor prescribing Tylenol for cancer. It needs a deep dive on both the technical and non-technical aspects.
CMtv is making a big deal about whether or not Br. Martin Navarro is a monk, trying to insinuate some sort of previous financial impropriety on the part of RTF vis-à-vis fundraising schemes. All he did was provide a platform for awareness, but the fundraiser was handled by Br. Martin. Br. Martin has always been upfront, as far as I know, about the Oblates of St. Augustine's de facto status under certain provisions in Canon Law. One might as well attack Fr. Nix's status as a 'diocesan hermit' because he drives all over the place. It would be about the same level of honesty.
As for Joe "Beard"'s whiny letter:
I'd have done the exact thing RTF did. Want to quit? I'm taking over the accounts so you cannot ruin the brand in a fit of rage. It's *exactly* how business works; I've done the same thing to employees' accounts when there are sudden legal issues, firings/quitting, etc. They apparently didn't have a contract in place to fall back on. Remuneration and legal possession was undefined, it seems. Joe didn't pursue it legally and 2 years later wants to make a stink. This is par for the course in CMtv's methodology. Who knows the other side, RTF's portion of the story. Joe's timing is suspect, his claims are rather vague, and frankly he comes off like someone who needs to learn a few things in life.
