Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s recent April report to Congress claimed that it found no proof that anyone instructed either of the unnamed authors of the previous internal memo to probe a relation between racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVE’s) and members of any religion or political affiliation, Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported. Moreover, Horowitz’s report posited that there was no “underlying policy direction” indicating a relation.
“We also found no evidence that Analyst 1 or 2 took investigative steps beyond searching FBI and other databases to obtain information for the [memo],” the report read.
The recent report claimed that the FBI had created the “appearance” of conflating religious beliefs with racially motivated violent extremism and shifted the blame to Republican members of Congress, stating that the latter misunderstood what the FB’sI use of “domestic terrorism terminology.”
The FBI’s Richmond office reportedly drafted the leaked internal memo in late 2022, while other authors completed it in January 2023, using materials from the leftist Southern Poverty Law Center. Notably, the Southern Poverty Law Center, lists “radical traditionalist Catholics” as a hate group, together with neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.
The FBI’s Richmond office reportedly drafted the leaked internal memo in late 2022, while other authors completed it in January 2023, using materials from the leftist Southern Poverty Law Center. Notably, the Southern Poverty Law Center, lists “radical traditionalist Catholics” as a hate group, together with neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.
In context, the leaked 2023 memo, titled “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities,” portrayed as “Catholic extremists” those people who attend the Traditional Latin Mass , pray rosaries, and resist the pro-abortion and LGBTQ+ legislation of Biden and allies.
Interestingly (though most likely not coincidentally), the FBI purportedly “permanently deleted” files linked to its leaked memo bureau’s Richmond field office, prompting Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley and 15 other Republican senators called for the FBI to be transparent about its attempts to spy on traditionalist Catholics.
Following Horowitz’s recent report, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights President Bill Donohue submitted a letter urging for the US House of Representatives to continue investigating the FBI.
“While he satisfied some of our concerns, serious issues remain,” Donohue stated. “While there was no evidence of malice, it was determined that the probe of Catholics' lacked sufficient evidence' to establish a relationship between the aforementioned extremists and RTC ideology.”
Contrast the FBI’s reported espionage on Traditionalist Catholics with its relative hands-off approach in handling the pro-Hamas protests that have broken out nationwide as a result of Israeli actions in the Gaza war.
An excerpt from the letter reads:
“It is one thing to concede that there are racial and ethnic extremists in every religious and secular organization; it is quite another to assume a nexus between a mainstream religious organization and violence, especially when the grounds for making such an assumption are spurious. It is as revealing as it is disturbing to note that the probe of Catholics was based on one person, namely, Defendant A. That he is clearly a violent, bigoted thug—he hates everyone from Jews to cops—is uncontested. But where are the others? There isn’t even a Defendant B.”
Another snippet of Donohue’s letter is as follows:
“Later in the report we learn that ‘there was no evidence that Defendant A was being radicalized” at the church he attended, and that ‘he had been on the radar ‘as an unstable, dangerous individual’ before ‘any association with any Catholic related entity whatsoever.’That being the case, why was it necessary to investigate his fellow churchgoers? Since when does the FBI conduct an investigation of a world religion on the basis of one miscreant whom they admit was not radicalized by it?”
Likewise, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told OSV News, “No one should be afraid that they are being targeted by the FBI simply because of their faith.”
“I am disappointed that the Inspector General’s review did not address the use of anti-Christian sources by the FBI or adequately address the removal of this document from FBI systems,” Lankford said, as quoted by OSV.
“It is a basic American and constitutional right to have a faith and to live that faith — no one should ever live in fear that they will be investigated by law enforcement for living their faith.”
Also, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told OSV News:
“I appreciate the Inspector General’s work in conducting this review under a tight deadline. However, the report leaves questions unanswered that I and many of my colleagues have been asking of the FBI for over a year.”
“The most important part of this report is what’s not in it, rather than what is,” Grassley said. “Director Wray has failed to sufficiently explain why he described the memo to Congress as a ‘single product,’ when there were two — one internal to Richmond, and one the FBI planned to elevate to the whole bureau nationwide. The FBI has also failed to explain why it ordered the permanent deletion of files related to the memo, or why it continues to use biased sources like the Southern Poverty Law Center. The FBI owes the Senate many more answers regarding this appalling case.”
In light of the Biden administration’s targeting of pro-life faithful Catholics, perhaps Congressman Mike Lawler, who claims himself to be Catholic, should call for Congress and the Senate to pass an Act condemning Christophobia.
Contrast the FBI’s reported espionage on Traditionalist Catholics with its relative hands-off approach in handling the pro-Hamas protests that have broken out nationwide as a result of Israeli actions in the Gaza war.
When questioned in an interview about “actively monitoring” the pro-Palestinian rallies erupting across US college and university campuses, Wray simply responded that “we don’t monitor protests.” Adding, Wray stated: “But we do share intelligence about specific threats of violence.”
In response, many social media lambasted Wray and the FBI for double standards. For instance, conservative podcast host Graham Allen posted:
“FBI Director Chris Wray: ‘We don't monitor protests’. They just monitor:
Republicans
Church
Christians
Donald Trump supporters
Parents who attend a PTA meeting”
Alluding to the 2023 leaked FBI memo, another social media user, Johnny V, said:
“I guess they are too busy monitoring Catholic churches.”
Furthermore, the same DOJ that claimed there was no evidence of “malicious” FBI intent to target “traditionalist Catholics” recently banned Paulette Harlow, a Catholic pro-lifer on house arrest,from attending Sunday Mass.
In response to Harlow’s legal counsel’s petition that a religious accommodation be granted for Harlow to attend Sunday Mass, DOJ lead prosecutor Sanjay Patel specifically denied that request, LifeSite News reported.
Another LifeSite news report documenting how Biden’s DOJ seems to be guilty of ill-treating nine peaceful pro-lifers in the biased and targeted Washington, D.C., FACE Act trials reveals the extent of the Left’s desire to prosecute and persecute faithful Catholics who respect Traditional Church liturgy and morality. That the FBI has become a political tool for Democrats and other leftists is old news, especially after the Bureau has glossed over egregious attacks on hundreds of pro-life centers and churches.
Fortunately, some lawmakers are not ignorant of the FBI’s blatantly biased approach against Catholics.
On March 5, US Sen. Marco Rubio demanded in a letter that Biden safeguard Catholic churches from the “growing number of attacks” since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
In the missive, Rubio stated:
“These attacks are not random nor are they the result of a temporary lapse in judgment by perpetrators. They are motivated by a deep and abiding animosity towards religious institutions and people of faith.”
Elaborating, Rubio decried Biden’s lack of action towards these attacks on Catholic churches:
“As president, you have a constitutional duty to ‘take care that the laws be faithfully Executed.’ It should be of highest priority for your administration to protect and defend any group from violence. Yet, your administration’s passivity causes people of faith across America to seriously doubt whether you are willing and able to defend Catholic churches and their Parishioners.”
In light of the Biden administration’s targeting of pro-life faithful Catholics, perhaps Congressman Mike Lawler, who claims himself to be Catholic, should call for Congress and the Senate to pass an Act condemning Christophobia.
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