Catholic leaders demand investigation into withdrawn FBI memo on ‘Radical Traditionalists’

.

Catholic leaders and Republican officials are calling for investigations into a local FBI field office’s intelligence memo that sought to link “radical-traditionalist Catholics” with domestic terrorism and that FBI headquarters was forced to withdraw.

An FBI intelligence product released on Jan. 23 by the bureau’s field office in Richmond, Virginia, claimed the office “assesses the increasingly observed interest of racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists in radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology almost certainly presents opportunities for threat mitigation through the exploration of new avenues for tripwire and source development.” The FBI Richmond field office pointed to an alleged connection between “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists” and “radical-traditionalist Catholics.”

FBI’S UNRELIABLE LEFTWING SOURCES

But FBI headquarters told the Washington Examiner this month: “This particular field office product … does not meet the exacting standards of the FBI. Upon learning of the document, FBI Headquarters quickly began taking action to remove the document from FBI systems and conduct a review of the basis for the document.”

Catholic Bishop Barry Knestout, the leader of the Diocese of Richmond, said early last week that he was “alarmed” by the Richmond FBI memo.

“The leaked document should be troubling and offensive to all communities of faith, as well as all Americans,” Knestout said, adding, “If evidence of extremism exists, it should be rooted out, but not at the expense of religious freedom. A preference for traditional forms of worship and holding closely to the Church’s teachings on marriage, family, human sexuality, and the dignity of the human person does not equate with extremism.”

The bishop added: “It is my hope we get to the truth of the memo. … I call on all national representatives from the Commonwealth of Virginia in the House and Senate to exercise their role of oversight, to publicly condemn this threat to religious liberty, and to ensure that such offenses against the constitutionally protected free exercise of religion do not occur again.”

Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan, chairman of the Committee for Religious Liberty at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said late last week, “I agree with my brother Bishop Barry Knestout that the leaked memorandum was nonetheless ‘troubling and offensive’ in several respects – such as in its religious profiling and reliance on dubious sourcing – and am glad it has been rescinded.” Dolan added: “We encourage federal law enforcement authorities to take appropriate measures to ensure the problematic aspects of the memo do not recur in any of their agencies’ work going forward.”

Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) and Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX), along with four other Republican senators and 14 GOP congressmen, sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray late last week telling him that “we are concerned that the FBI does not have processes in place to ensure that Catholics are not the subject of FBI suspicion or investigation simply because of how and where they worship or what they believe.”

“We request that the FBI respond to this letter by providing us with all documents and correspondence related to the origin and purpose of the document, including what agents developed the policy and whether any actions were taken in response to it,” the Republican investigators told the FBI director.

Christopher Wray-042619
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies before a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the bureau’s budget, Thursday, April 4, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington.


When distancing itself from the Richmond memo, the FBI national press office insisted this month: “The FBI is committed to sound analytic tradecraft and to investigating and preventing acts of violence and other crimes while upholding the constitutional rights of all Americans and will never conduct investigative activities or open an investigation based solely on First Amendment protected activity.”

The memo by the FBI field office in Richmond repeatedly cited the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center, including an article on “Radical Traditional Catholicism.” The field office also pointed to articles by left-wing writers at Salon, including “White Nationalists Get Religion” and “’Traditional’ Catholics and White Nationalist ‘Groypers’ Forge a New Far-Right Youth Movement.” And FBI Richmond also cited an Atlantic article by a left-wing writer on “How Extremist Gun Culture is Trying to Co-Opt the Rosary.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

A coalition of 20 Republican attorneys general led by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares quickly sent a letter to Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland, telling them that “anti-Catholic bigotry appears to be festering in the FBI, and the bureau is treating Catholics as potential terrorists because of their beliefs.”

The disavowal email from FBI headquarters was sent to the Washington Examiner just after the start of a congressional hearing by the Republican-led Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. Ex-FBI agents testified there that the bureau had become steadily politicized in recent years.

Related Content

Related Content