By Donald Jeffries
On the surface, it seems an odd thing for the now completely “woke” FBI to be going after the Catholic Church. For decades, Catholics have been in the forefront of leftist movements like sanctuary cities. But the Catholic Church still stands solidly for life, and at least some semblance of morality and decency. That alone makes it an enemy of the lunatics running this country.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has alleged that the FBI utilized an undercover agent in targeting the clergy and leadership of the Catholic Church. Jordan, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, recently sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, informing him that he was being subpoenaed in conjunction with an investigation into the FBI’s alleged attempt to recruit Catholic leaders in order to identify potential “radical” Catholic parishioners.
In February, former FBI agent Kyle Seraphin leaked a memo, which revealed that the FBI was planning to spy on a Catholic denomination in Richmond, Va. This was apparently part of a ludicrous effort, regularly promoted by the Biden administration, to ferret out “white supremacy,” which the FBI thinks might have “found a home within Catholics who prefer the Latin Mass.”
So, we can now add the Latin Mass to the countless other examples of modern “racism.” Wray told the Senate Intelligence Committee in March that he was “aghast” by the memo and maintained that the FBI does not “conduct investigations based on religious affiliation or practices, full stop.”
In official damage control mode, Christopher Dunham, the FBI’s acting assistant director of Congressional Affairs, chimed in, “The FBI is not anti-Catholic in any way, shape, or form, and does not target people of any faith because of their religious beliefs.”
Attorneys general from 19 states with Republican governors signed a letter sent to Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland, criticizing the memo and asking for additional information. In his own letter to Wray, Jordan described how “based on the limited information produced by the FBI to the committee,” FBI documents demonstrate that Catholic churches were used in order to help monitor and report on parishioners. He noted that such an operation interfered with church attendees’ exercise of their First Amendment rights, “without worrying that the FBI may have planted so-called ‘tripwire’ sources or other informants in the house of worship.”
“The FBI purported to categorize Catholic Americans based on theological distinctions and relied on the Southern Poverty Law Center to suggest that certain kinds of Catholic Americans may be domestic terrorists,” Jordan’s letter continued. “This shocking information reinforces our need for all responsible documents, and the Committee is issuing a subpoena to you to compel your full cooperation.”
In predictable fashion, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who is a Catholic in the same manner that Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi are, defended the FBI’s actions. ABC13, who interviewed Hillary Clinton’s one-time vice-presidential running mate, reported, “Kaine said the purpose of the investigation was actually to look into violent extremists who were targeting ‘radical traditionalist Catholics’ in an effort to recruit them.”
“I think the key is communication,” Kaine stated. “If the FBI has a concern like that, then go to the church leaders and say, ‘Hey look, we have a concern and we don’t want your members to get unwittingly caught up in something.’”
Kaine compared the FBI’s efforts to past operations working with mosques to prevent “radicalization” of Muslims. Presumably, the FBI looks at traditionalist beliefs, exemplified by the Latin Mass that was said in every Catholic Church in America until the implementation of the reforms brought about by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, in the same way it views Muslims criticizing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and other human rights violations.
“Based on the limited information produced by the FBI to the committee, we now know that the FBI relied on at least one undercover agent to produce its analysis,” Jordan proclaimed in his letter to Wray. He charged that the FBI had “proposed that its agents engage in outreach to Catholic parishes to develop sources among the clergy and church leadership to inform on Americans practicing their faith.”
FBI documents revealed that they intended to “sensitize” Catholics “to the warning signs of radicalization” and “enlist their assistance to serve as suspicious activity tripwires.”
The FBI has a long history dating back at least to the COINTEL program targeting the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s of infiltrating “extremist” groups on both the far left and far right. It is still unknown just how many agents and assets were in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, and what role they played in manufacturing what the fake news media and Democratic political establishment have falsely described as an “insurrection” out of a constitutionally protected, mostly peaceful protest.
