Brace yourself for a story that might make you question just how far government overreach can go.
The Daily Caller reported that the FBI, under the Biden administration, has been casting a much broader net than previously admitted in targeting conservative Catholics as potential violent extremists, according to newly released documents from Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa.
This controversy centers on a memo from the FBI’s Richmond field office that labeled “Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology” as an emerging threat, a document distributed to over 1,000 employees nationwide before a whistleblower brought it to light in 2023.
Let’s rewind to the origins of this unsettling saga. The Richmond memo, crafted with input from field offices in Portland, Ore., Milwaukee, and Louisville, wasn’t just a rogue idea from one corner of the agency, despite what the FBI initially suggested to Congress.
Instead, documents Grassley released show it was a coordinated effort with a disturbingly wide reach.
What’s in this memo that’s got so many up in arms? It claims that traditionalist Catholics, especially those who reject the Second Vatican Council or favor the Latin Mass, might be sliding toward racially motivated violent extremism—a leap that feels more like a fiction novel than a federal assessment.
Even more eyebrow-raising, the memo compares “conservative family values” to Islamist ideology, as penned by a Richmond analyst.
If cherishing traditional roles is now a red flag, one wonders what’s next on the FBI’s list of suspicious behaviors—baking apple pie, perhaps?
The FBI didn’t stop at speculation; the memo urged developing “sources” within Catholic churches to monitor congregants. This isn’t just surveillance; it’s a direct intrusion into the sanctity of faith communities, treating pews like potential crime scenes.
The blowback was swift once the memo leaked, forcing the FBI to retract it amid congressional outrage. But Grassley’s documents reveal a second draft was already in the works, poised for agency-wide distribution, hinting at an ongoing fixation on Catholics as a threat.
This draft even speculated that violent extremists would ramp up efforts to indoctrinate Catholics in the lead-up to the next election cycle.
It’s a prediction that sounds more like political posturing than evidence-based analysis, leaving many to question the FBI’s priorities.
To bolster its claims, the original memo leaned on materials from the Southern Poverty Law Center, a group often criticized for branding mainstream conservative views as “hate.” Relying on such a polarizing source hardly screams objectivity—more like cherry-picking to fit a narrative.
Sen. Grassley isn’t letting this slide, and rightly so. His recent letter to FBI Director Kash Patel calls for a deeper dive into agency records, pushing for transparency on just how far this targeting went. As Grassley wrote, “I look forward to continuing to work with you to restore the FBI to excellence.”
That’s a noble goal, but restoring trust won’t be easy when documents show the FBI misled Congress about the memo’s origins.
Claiming it was just one field office’s brainchild, when evidence points to a broader collaboration, smells like a cover-up—or at least a severe lack of candor.
Meanwhile, the White House has stepped in with a February executive order creating a task force to combat anti-Christian bias in government, citing this very FBI memo as proof of a troubling pattern under Biden’s watch. It’s a move that acknowledges the problem, but skeptics might ask if it’s too little, too late.
What’s at stake here isn’t just a poorly judged memo; it’s the principle of religious liberty itself. When federal agencies start profiling entire faith groups based on flimsy assumptions, it erodes the very freedoms this nation was built on.