FBI attacked Catholics and now it won’t even let us see what it did

Kasol

Catholics in the United States have been denigrated by the federal government, and it is time to address an issue that poses a serious challenge to religious freedom.

Members of the House Judiciary Committee recently questioned FBI Director Christopher Wray about an FBI memo from its field office in Richmond, Virginia, aimed at American Catholics attracted to traditional Latin masses.

The memo alleged that violent extremists “seek out and attend traditional Catholic places of worship” and “develop tripwires and sources” within churches that provide Latin masses and “radical traditionalist” Catholic online communities.

Jordan threatens to detain FBI Director Wray for disrespecting Congress

What is the source of this memo? The Southern Poverty Law Center is a highly partisan and discredited progressive advocacy group.

The fact that even the FBI field offices were doing religious profiling should shock your conscience. After all, racial and religious profiling is not only ineffective, it has been shown to undermine trust in both police and government authorities.

During the hearing, Mr. Ray said he was “appalled” when he discovered the memo and immediately “ordered it to be retracted and removed from the FBI system.” He also told the commission that the FBI is conducting an internal review of the memo, likely to be completed later this summer.

Commission members were unimpressed, and Mr. Wray said there was no reason to be impressed because the FBI refused to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests for records related to the memo.

“As a Roman Catholic myself, I am very upset by this memo, and it is a shame that it was only retracted after it was basically leaked to the public,” said New Jersey Republican Rep. Jefferson Van Drew. He added, “It should scare all Americans.”

This is downright frightening because the FBI’s official position in the Biden administration is to protect itself, despite Mr. Wray’s attempts to distance himself from the Richmond Memos.

In response to a FOIA request filed by the advocacy group CatholicVote, the Secretariat argues that “the public has no ‘right’ to view the records” regarding the Richmond Field Office memo. Presumably, her FOIA request for the Catholic Vote did not meet the Freedom of Information requirements. This is a very sensitive issue when dealing with law enforcement.

But regardless of this, any American of any religious tradition, or none at all, has the right to completely and unequivocally reject this blatant religious profiling by our second Catholic President, President Joe Biden, and his administration. Mr. Biden, who usually reminds the American public of the important role religion plays in his life, does nothing to defend them.

As expected, the political debate emerging from the hearings plunged into the traditional left-versus-right debate that pits the administration against the House leadership. Lost in most of the conversation is a Catholic attending a Latino Mass in the United States, drawing suspicions from the FBI.

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray arrives for the House Judiciary Committee hearings in Washington, DC, Wednesday, July 12, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

These loyal church-goers went largely unnoticed until July 2021, when Pope Francis placed sweeping restrictions on the celebration of Masses using the 1962 Roman Missal (variously known as the Special Form of the Roman Rite, the Tridentine Mass, and the Traditional Latin Mass).

At the time, the Pope said he was acting to preserve the unity of the Church, arguing that the spread of the ancient liturgy was a source of division and being exploited by Catholics who opposed the Second Vatican Council.

The pope’s crackdown caused a great deal of pain to the traditional Latin Mass community, especially considering the way his predecessor, Benedict XVI, reached out to them. In 2007 Benedict published an apostolic letter called the “Smorum Pontificum”, which recognized the right of all priests to celebrate Mass using the 1962 Roman Mass.

“What previous generations considered sacred remains sacred and great to us as well, not something that is suddenly outright banned or even considered harmful,” he wrote.

In response to a FOIA request filed by the advocacy group CatholicVote, the Secretariat argues that “the public has no ‘right’ to view the records” regarding the Richmond Field Office memo.

One of the unintended consequences of the release of the Old Mass was the increased enthusiasm for the Mass among young people. “Priests and lay people were able to benefit from the spiritual and doctrinal treasures contained in the traditional liturgy, which sparked conversions, especially among young people,” said Father Claude Barthes, an expert on traditional liturgy and a priest of the French diocese of Fréjus-Toulon.

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This does not deny that some traditionalists have adopted some crazy ideas. There is a traditional Latin Mass community with a strangely ultra-conservative view of modern wickedness, especially the need to keep women in place. They make the Amish appear progressive and have never come across a conspiracy theory they don’t like.

But importantly, most of these traditionalists stay away from the Catholic Church. They are “deceasants” who, unlike the very conservative Society of St. Pius X, believe that the seat of Peter has been vacant since Vatican II. Most Catholics are unaware of its existence. They pose no real threat to the fabric of society, nor do they pose any threat to the Church.

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The majority of those who faithfully attend Latin Mass simply enjoy the richness and beauty found in tradition.

American Catholics who attend the traditional Latin Mass deserve more than government rebuke and should enjoy religious freedom guaranteed by the constitutional order. It’s time for the President to show respect to them and our Constitution.

Click here to read more articles by Andrea Picciotti Bayer