This is the article that appeared in the January/February 2024 edition of Catalyst, our monthly journal. The date that prints out reflects the day that it was uploaded to our website. For a more accurate date of when the article was first published, check out the news release, here.
On December 4, the House Report of the Committee on the Judiciary and Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released its findings on the FBI’s probe of Catholics.
It is painfully clear that there is an anti-Catholic cell group within the FBI. Most alarming, even after the release of the evidence showing how compromised certain units in the FBI have become, the Report concludes that “the FBI still apparently desires to convey the outrageous message that some Catholic Americans with traditional beliefs pose a domestic threat to our country.”
We first learned of the anti-Catholic FBI caper in February when a whistleblower disclosed a startling memo produced by the Richmond Field Office: it revealed an investigation of traditional Catholics. In February, the House Judiciary Committee began its own investigation.
On February 9, we made public our concerns. We were not convinced that the FBI was limiting its probe to “Radical-Traditional Catholics.” We raised two questions: “What’s next? Will it be a war on Catholics who are orthodox?”
Our hunch proved to be right. The FBI subsequently said that “mainline Catholic parishes” and “local diocesan leadership” were selected for investigation.
Bill Donohue wrote to Rep. Jim Jordan on July 24, July 26, August 10, September 21 and December 6 asking him to find out why ordinary Catholics were being investigated. We applaud the response of Jordan and his staff.
While other field offices assisted the Richmond Office, the Report found that the greatest delinquency was committed by Richmond employees. For example, though the memo was peer-reviewed by other employees at the Richmond facility, none had expressed any concerns, constitutional or otherwise.
The Report criticized the process as a “rubber-stamp review,” one that received the blessings of the top lawyer involved. He said the memo “look[ed] good” and that there were “no legal issues.”
What was the end goal? It was poised to expand its reach nationwide. It was revealed that “the FBI had plans for an external, FBI-wide product based on the Richmond memorandum.” Meaning, as the Special Agent in charge of the Richmond Field Office put it, that the memo “could be [used] to inform…other intelligence analysts across the country.”
This is the most alarming finding in the Report. It should be the focus of future investigations.
It’s important to realize that the FBI was never interested in investigating dissident, left-wing Catholics. No, the only ones on their radar were those who are “pro-life, pro-family, and support the biological basis for sex and gender distinction as potential domestic terrorists.”
There is an anti-Catholic cell group in the FBI. It needs to be purged.
