On Thursday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) rescinded a report issued by its Richmond, Virginia, division that listed traditionalist Catholics as persons who might be guilty of being “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists.”
The report was heavily influenced by information from the leftist Southern Poverty Law Center, and declared “the increasingly observed interest of racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVEs) in radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology almost certainly presents opportunities for threat mitigation through the exploration of new avenues for tripwire and source development.”
In a statement, the FBI explained their decision to remove the report: “While our standard practice is to not comment on specific intelligence products, this particular field office product — disseminated only within the FBI — regarding racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism 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,” the statement went on. “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.”
Unfortunately, someone in the Bureau’s Richmond office thought it would be OK to place Catholics who prefer a traditional Latin Mass on the same level as Islamic terrorists and Ku Klux Klan members.
Former FBI agent and current whistleblower Kyle Seraphin was responsible for sharing the document.
“We got briefings that SPLC was not legitimate when I was at Quantico,” Seraphin told the Daily Signal.
The document stated, “RTCs (Radical Traditional Catholics) are typically characterized by the rejection of the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) as a valid church council; disdain for most of the popes elected since Vatican II, particularly Pope Francis and Pope John Paul II; and frequent adherence to anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT, and white supremacist ideology.”
The report went on to say, “In making this assessment, FBI Richmond relied on the key assumption that [racially or ethnically motivated extremists] will continue to find [radical-traditionalist Catholic or RTC] ideology attractive and will continue to attempt to connect with RTC adherents, both virtually via social media and in-person at places of worship.”
The report was careful to say that not all traditional Catholics were guilty of such “ethnically motivated violent extremist” tendencies.
“Radical-traditionalist Catholics compose a small minority of overall Roman Catholic adherents and are separate and distinct from ‘traditionalist Catholics’ who prefer the Traditional Latin Mass and pre-Vatican II teachings and traditions, but without the more extremist ideological beliefs and violent rhetoric.”
The now rescinded report claimed that violence from the so-called RTCs could be expected to increase during the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election.
“FBI Richmond assesses RMVE interest in RTCs is likely to increase over the next 12 to 24 months in the run-up to the next general election cycle complicating the overall RMVE threat picture while also creating new opportunities for mitigation efforts,” the report stated.
Those most in danger from “RTCs” would be groups or individuals interested “in areas such as abortion rights, immigration, affirmative action, and LGBTQ protections.”
The document didn’t hide its SPLC influence, proclaiming, “As of 2021, the Southern Poverty Law Center identified nine RTC hate groups operating in the United States.” Specifically, the report singled out the following groups as potentially dangerous and defined by the SPLC as “radical Catholic” organizations: Catholic Apologetics International in Greenville, Pennsylvania; Catholic Family News/Catholic Family Ministries, Inc. in Niagara Falls, New York; Christ or Chaos in Corsicana, Texas; Culture Wars/Fidelity Press in South Bend, Indiana; The Fatima Crusader/International Fatima Rosary Crusade of Buffalo, NY; Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in New Hampshire; In the Spirit of Chartres Community in Maryland; The Remnant/The Remnant Press in Minnesota; and Tradition in Action of Los Angeles.
While the FBI eventually did the right thing in rescinding this document, the very fact that it existed at all is troubling to many Americans of faith.
In the past several years, the FBI has been colluding with Big Tech to silence voices that they don’t agree with, planning kidnapping plots in order to trap political opponents of Democrats, has spied on at least one presidential campaign, has engaged in a plot to oust a sitting president, and is now targeting Catholic groups that have been unfairly targeted by the SPLC as “hate” groups.
Do we really need an ideologically driven federal law-enforcement agency that mainly works at the behest of one political party? It’s an organization the Founders never envisioned, and has become reminiscent of Stalin’s KGB or Hitler’s Gestapo in its pursuit of political dissidents. Instead of simply investigating the obvious political weaponization of the FBI, it’s time to consider dismantling the organization completely.
