FBI Investigates Catholic Churches for Domestic Extremism

PM: The Weaponization of Government Committee has discovered that the FBI sent undercover agents into Catholic churches to investigate those parishes for domestic extremism.

“Based on the limited information produced by the FBI to the Committee,” Jim Jordan writes in a letter to FBI director Christopher Wray, “we now know that the FBI relied on at least one undercover agent to produce its analysis and that the FBI 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 wanted sources within Catholic Church to look for "radicalization" in local parishes: House GOP | Just The News https://t.co/VJgjffVyQG

— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) April 10, 2023

Jordan notes that this [is] “shocking information” and that it “reinforces” the need for the FBI to respond to the committee’s subpoenas and requests for information. He brings up the leaked bulletin from an FBI field office in Richmond earlier this year which identified Catholics who attend Latin Mass as potential domestic extremists.

The FBI later withdrew that bulletin. which was based on far-leftist sources and definitions, but it appears that the FBI’s targeting of Catholics was not limited to one field office bulletin.

The FBI's politically motivated attack on the Catholic church is a disgrace to the First Amendment.

The bureau should be ashamed. https://t.co/OuIXBdE72s

— Representative Lisa McClain (@RepLisaMcClain) April 11, 2023

The letter cites a document provided to the committee, and states that “From this selective production, we know that the FBI, relying on information derived from at least one undercover employee, sought to use local religious organizations as ‘new avenues for tripwire and source development.'”

In a section entitled Opportunities, cited by the letter, it reads “In addition to (redaction], engage in outreach to the leadership of other [Society of Saint Pius X] chapels in the FBI Richmond area of responsibility to sensitize these congregations to the warning signs of radicalization and to enlist their assistance to serve as suspicious activity tripwires.”

The FBI, per Jordan, “similarly noted two other opportunities to engage in outreach with religious institutions in the Richmond area, citing a desire ‘to sensitize the congregation to the warning signs of radicalization and enlist their assistance to serve as suspicious activity tripwires.’

“This outreach plan even included contacting so-called ‘mainline Catholic parishes’ and the local ‘diocesan leadership’. The FBI also expressed an interest in ‘leverag[ing] existing sources and or initiating Type 5 Assessments to develop new sources with the placement and access’ to report on suspicious activity.”