FBI Warns Against ‘Radical Traditionalist Catholic Ideology’ in Leaked Memo

[Dawn Marie]

The FBI’s Richmond Division would like to protect Virginians from the threat of “white supremacy,” which it believes has found a home within Catholics who prefer the Latin Mass. An intelligence analyst within the Richmond Field Office of the FBI released in a new finished intelligence product dated January 23, 2023, on Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists (RMVE) and their interests in “Radical-Traditionalist Catholics” or RTCs. The document assesses with “high confidence” the FBI can mitigate the threat of Radical-Traditionalist Catholics by recruiting sources within the Catholic Church.

The acronym, new to many in the Domestic Counterterrorism field, comes with a footnote by the writer explaining RTCs are “typically characterized by the rejection of the Second Vatican Council.” The writer makes an unsubstantiated leap that a preference for the Catholic Mass in Latin instead of the vernacular and a number of more traditional views on other world religions can amount to an “adherence to anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ and white supremacist ideology.” This writer draws the important distinction between “traditional Catholics,” who simply prefer the Traditional Latin Mass and pre-Vatican II teachings, and RTCs, who espouse “more extremist ideological beliefs and violent rhetoric.”

A discerning reader may wonder why the writer believes such divisions exist and if there is evidence of the extremist and violent rhetoric within the Catholic church. The analyst’s note doesn’t provide specifics. When the FBI generates an intelligence product, it is important to note the analyzed sources. Typically, strict source vetting removes partisanship and bias, so a product is both consistent with federal law and can add value to the FBI’s overall mission. Of note, this document was reviewed and approved for release by the FBI Richmond Chief Division Counsel, who is the office’s top lawyer.

The attached appendices refer to a number of articles and the out-of-FBI-policy Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) at the end of the document. For example, Appendix D is a direct copy of the SPLC list of “Radical Traditional Catholicism Hate Groups,” including the web address accessed. The SPLC appears to be a source for the intelligence analyst’s beliefs that RTCs exist and that they are anti-Semitic. The SPLC description for this “hate group” states RTCs “may make up the largest single group of serious anti-semites in America.” Often in the intelligence world, this type of statement without any established evidence is often followed by the acronym “NFI” or “No Further Information” to indicate it is an unsubstantiated opinion. Additionally, SPLC states RTCs “embrace extremely conservative social ideals with respect to women.” Nothing reported by the SPLC indicates the number of adherents to this alleged ideology nor any instances of violence. This lack of evidence and blatant partisan blindness is one of many reasons the FBI has distanced itself from the SPLC as a source in the past 10 years.The intelligence product includes endnote citations from two other sources: the far-Left online magazine Salon and the equally left-leaning The Atlantic. The Salon articles cited are typical of partisan click-bait writing: “Traditional Catholics and White Nationalist Groypers Forge a new Far-Right Youth Movement” and “White Nationalists Get Religion: On the Far-Right Fringe, Catholics and Racists Forge a movement.” These articles were released a day apart as a series but include substantially the same information.

The articles offer only circumstantial suggestions of affiliations between inflammatory figures like Milo Yiannopoulos and Nick Fuentes and a man pictured standing on the steps of a Catholic church in New York after the Dobbs decision. The Salon writer makes the wild leap that using a photo of someone at a church indicates the pictured individual or his beliefs are relevant within a religious institution with 70 million adherents in the United States alone and over 2000 years of tradition and history.

The writer determines that the “threat picture” involving RMVE, again in this case, referring to white supremacists, will increase, but that the “RTC Community is likely to remain relatively stable or show modest growth” over the next one to two years. The basis for this assessment is not annotated and appears to be speculative. The speculative increase in RMVE interactions with RTC leads the writer to suggest mitigation strategies, including recruiting Confidential Human Sources (“source development”), tripwire, and liaison contacts. Tripwires and liaisons are overt contacts with trusted members of a community or an industry. They can advise law enforcement about potentially illegal activity. Due to the fact that “white supremacy” is itself a First Amendment-protected belief, to say nothing of proponents of the most established Christian denomination in the world, the Bureau tries to cover documents like these with a caveat excusing their intrusion into the sacrosanct grounds of free exercise of religion and free association. In another typical intrusion into First Amendment concerns, the document implies a strategy of monitoring social media for RTC ideology in online posts.

The impetus of the writer can be assessed by the fixation on abortion and the repeated use of the phrase “abortion rights.” Documents like these can be used to drive the FBI’s priorities in specific regions and boost the visibility of non-existent threats. There is a reason the writer refers to the document as a “first of its kind” Domain Perspective: it is generally out of bounds. However, intelligence products like this help focus on alleged “hostility towards the abortion-rights advocates,” which the FBI has used to justify significant enforcement actions tied to the FACE Act (18 USC 248). Americans will remember a flood of conservative news outlets covering arrests of numerous pro-life protesters at the end of 2022, which are coming back into focus after the January 30, 2023 acquittal of defendant Mark Houck. While over 100 instances of attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers occurred in 2022, the SPLC reported an unsubstantiated 200 “bombings or arson attacks” on abortion clinics in the past 20 years.

This tremendous statistical mismatch usually would have led federal law enforcement to focus on the highest threat, but the increasingly Leftist bend of FBI enforcement actions appears to have ignored this trend. It also appears the writer is simply assuming RMVEs share common cause with Conservatives, including practicing Catholics, on issues about abortion, immigration, affirmative action, and LGBTQ protections. This editorial bias should give the reader of this document a medium to high confidence the intelligence analyst is the product of left-leaning higher education and leftist values.

The piece concludes with the incredible leap that RMVEs or white supremacists pose a threat to use “RTC social media sites” (no examples) or “places of worship as facilitation platforms to promote violence.” This intelligence product is indicative of a permissive tolerance within the FBI for Left-leaning ideological actors who use academic-sounding rhetoric to cover a dearth of personal experience. The weaponization of the FBI against conservative Americans can be seen in the way documents like this are published and distributed. Poorly sourced and highly speculative intelligence products lead to opening badly articulated predicate investigations into Americans in violation of their God-given, First Amendment-protected civil liberties.

While most Americans are familiar with criminal investigations, which explore the allegation or information that a crime has been committed, many are not familiar with intelligence investigations. In contrast to the linear nature of a criminal case, counterintelligence and counterterrorism cases follow a circular path that can continue indefinitely without any articulated goal. Indeed, information is the goal of these types of cases. Many counterterrorism cases never articulate or uncover a single criminal act. Yet, they continue in order to develop more understanding of the “threat landscape” or “threat pictures,” as quoted in this document. Intelligence investigations often beget more investigations. The relevance of this product should not be lost on the reader.

Products like this can be used to support the opening of information-only cases, and there is no reason to expect Radical-Traditionalist Catholics are the end point of this train track – they will be the beginning. Opening the door to associating white supremacists with traditional religious practices based on common Christian positions on abortion and the LGBTQ political agendas is a dangerous step. Such investigations can easily lead to the same analysis of Radical Traditional Baptists, Radical Traditional Lutherans, and Radical Traditional Evangelicals. The FBI is forbidden from opening cases or publishing products based solely on First Amendment-protected activities. By tolerating the publishing of intelligence products as shoddy as this, they are crossing a line many Americans will find themselves on the wrong side of for the first time in history. This is what a politicalized FBI looks like; it should not be tolerated if Americans expect to enjoy the protections of our Bill of Rights.

[Dawn Marie]

Video Link HERE

[Doreen]

Thank you, Dawn Marie! We knew this day was coming!

[Michael]

This was also happening under the Obama Administration.  Traditional Catholics are being targeted because we are generally pro family, anti-abortion, and oppose things contrary to the laws of God, like gay marriage.  This will get worse and I am confident not limited to Virginia.  Liberal Novus Ordo bishops will be gleeful over this and will certainly assist in identifying traditional Catholic parishes.  This will probably accelerate once Francis announces the full suppression of the Vetus Ordo Mass and sacraments.  Unfortunately this is not surprising.   The "extremist" groups listed by the SPLC are laughable but shows the level of their hate and intolerance toward Traditional Catholics.  

SPLC Catholic Extremist Groups

[Dawn Marie]

Of course, this was always their end game but while Benedict lived, even though he was a modernist he was not the pope of the Alta Vendita as Bergoglio is. He works with them, and with Benedict gone they see no obstacles anymore to their planned agenda. 

[Michael]

Absolutely.  Faithful are still blind to the fact that he installed a river demon in Saint Peter's Basilica.  The Synods coming this fall are an attempt to create localized authority for the Church much like the Lutherans.  Preparations are already underway for a gay marriage ritual and coming out in support of the transgender agenda.  All contrary to the natural law.  Benedict warned of the wolves ( rot in the Curia and involvement of the CIA against Rome) and the coming of a smaller Church.  

[Michael]

[Margie]

How very interesting that the Pilipinas, Chinese and Mexican Americans in my Church are part of  "White Supremacy."   Is this FBI "investigation" coming from Pope Francis who detests the Traditional Latin Mass and wants to see it destroyed?  Just asking.

Thanks Dawn Marie for alerting us to what may be the coming persecution of our Church, Priests and parishioners.

Margie Tiritilli

[Dawn Marie]

Kaboom...those were my exact thoughts...exactly.

Margie said:

How very interesting that the Pilipinas, Chinese and Mexican Americans in my Church are part of  "White Supremacy."   Is this FBI "investigation" coming from Pope Francis who detests the Traditional Latin Mass and wants to see it destroyed?  Just asking.

Thanks Dawn Marie for alerting us to what may be the coming persecution of our Church, Priests and parishioners.

Margie Tiritilli

[Dawn Marie]

I remember John Venarri laughing so hard because he was on the SPLC'S greatest hits list.   Man I miss him so much. I can still hear his voice, still see him rocking side to side with every word he spoke.  His brilliance was second to none.

Michael said:

This was also happening under the Obama Administration.  Traditional Catholics are being targeted because we are generally pro family, anti-abortion, and oppose things contrary to the laws of God, like gay marriage.  This will get worse and I am confident not limited to Virginia.  Liberal Novus Ordo bishops will be gleeful over this and will certainly assist in identifying traditional Catholic parishes.  This will probably accelerate once Francis announces the full suppression of the Vetus Ordo Mass and sacraments.  Unfortunately this is not surprising.   The "extremist" groups listed by the SPLC are laughable but shows the level of their hate and intolerance toward Traditional Catholics.  

SPLC Catholic Extremist Groups

[Dawn Marie]

[Dawn Marie]

Bishop Strickland reacts to FBI whistleblower’s bombshell report on surveillance of traditional Catholics

[Michael]

FBI To Retract Catholic Infiltration Memo, Conduct Internal Review

SARAH WEAVERSOCIAL ISSUES REPORTER

February 09, 20231:40 PM ET

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The FBI is retracting a leaked document that advised the Bureau to infiltrate groups of traditionalist Roman Catholics who the assessment claimed were at risk of committing acts of extremist violence, the Daily Caller has learned.

The FBI tells the Caller that the document, put forward by the Richmond field office, “does not meet the exacting standards of the FBI” and that the Bureau will be conducting an internal review.

“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 agency told the Caller. “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.”

The document showed that the FBI’s field office in Richmond was considering infiltrating groups of traditionalist Roman Catholics who prefer the Latin mass, a whistleblower revealed Wednesday.

Former FBI agent and whistleblower Kyle Seraphin published the alleged document, which he wrote is “dated January 23, 2023” and originated with an “intelligence analyst within the Richmond Field Office.” Seraphin, who describes himself as a “confirmed Catholic” in his bio, did not say how he obtained the document.

The FBI report assesses with “high confidence” that the threat from so-called radical traditional Catholics (RTCs) can be mitigated through “source development,” among other strategies.

The document Seraphin posted claims that Catholics “characterized by the rejection of the Second Vatican Council” can be prone to “anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ and white supremacist ideology.” (RELATED: Pro-Abortion Group Funds Study That Concludes Pro-Life Ce...

The Second Vatican Council, which concluded in 1965, replaced the 16th-century Latin mass with the vernacular Novus Ordo form. Some schismatic groups reject the validity of Vatican II, while other Catholics have attempted to preserve the old Latin liturgy while maintaining communion with Rome.

The FBI document cites various reports from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), including the group’s list of “Radical Traditional Catholicism Hate Groups.” The SPLC has a history of targeting conservative groups, and has worked with major social media platforms to help them police “hate speech.”

The document expresses the FBI’s concern that racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVEs) will use traditionalist Catholic social media groups and parishes as “facilitation platforms to promote violence.” It also connects RTCs to an “increase in hostility toward abortion-rights advocates on social media in the run-up to and aftermath of” the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: FBI LGBT Guidance Quietly Scrubbed After Employee Backlash, Whistleblower Says)

Among the Catholic or Catholic-adjacent groups mentioned in the document are the traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), the right-wing Catholic news outlet Church Militant and “groypers,” the nickname for followers of traditionalist Catholic political commentator and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.

The memo cites “growing collaboration” between Church Militant and Fuentes’ America First organization as evidence of increasing ties between traditionalist Catholics and extremist groups. The document draws on three articles — two from Salon and one from The Atlantic — to make the connection. The articles outline a series of interviews, tweets and events in which people affiliated with Church Militant praised America First and its activities. None of the three articles cited in the document provide explicit examples of violence or terrorism committed by traditionalist Catholics.

Church Militant told the Caller that they have “zero connection” to Fuentes.

“The FBI report is based on ‘reporting’ by far-left extremists group and media outlets which clearly demonstrate zero understanding of Catholic theology. Those voluminous errors then found their way into this FBI report where flat out false conclusions are drawn,” CM said in a statement to the Caller. “Church Militant (and all faithful Catholics) in no way hates women, blacks, jews, immigrants or anyone else we may be accused of hating. To disagree with social or political points of view does not signify ‘hate’. It signifies disagreement.”

“Likewise, to bolster its fear-mongering, the FBI report goes on to try and draw an imaginary link between Catholics and ‘white supremacy’ yet never defines what that ubiquitous term actually means,” the statement continues. “Church Militant does not believe that ‘whites are superior’ or non-white races are somehow inferior. We are faithful catholics and Catholic teaching abhors such a notion. CM has zero connection to any person or outfit who espouses these anti-Catholic ideologies and condemns such beliefs. The FBI report falsely suggests that all of this is bound up in potential violence aimed at abortion supporters. For the record, Church Militant in no way shape or form supports physical violence against those with whom we disagree on moral/political issues of the day.”

According to a new whistleblower document, the FBI used deranged SPLC claims to justify targeting Catholic parishes and societies for infiltration to spy on “rad trads,” whom the FBI claims are often violent racist terrorists. https://t.co/ZJr2h0DS0G

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 8, 2023

The FBI has come under fire in recent months for its alleged bias against conservative individuals and groups. On Jan. 30, a Catholic pro-life father was found not guilty after armed FBI agents raided his home for shoving an abortion clinic volunteer he claimed was verbally assaulting his son.

FBI To Retract Catholic Infiltration Memo, Conduct Internal Review