Intelligence analysts and the chief counsel for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Richmond, Virginia field office are concerned “radical-traditionalist Catholics” are a threat to our democracy and could be ripe for recruitment by white supremacists.
Although FBI headquarters has tried to distance itself from the memo, that does not change the fact that multiple staffers, including a senior attorney, signed off on the intelligence bulletin. That bulletin relied on an Atlantic article about rosary prayer beads being a “weapon” and the grifting hate group called the Southern Poverty Law Center. The retraction does not remove the attitude within the Richmond field office that Catholics who like the Latin Mass or hold conservative views are threats.
Given how the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI, and federal government in general have repeatedly targeted conservatives for their speech and beliefs, it might be good to consider some warning signs that possibly landed traditional, faithful Catholics on the radar of law enforcement.
As someone who attends the traditional Latin Mass and knows many traditional Catholics across the country, I think I know several things that prompted the memo.
1. Interest in Homeschooling
A common interest in Latin Mass parishes and among traditional Catholics is homeschooling. This should not be surprising given the degeneracy and filth in U.S. public schools. Of course, another reason is that many Latin Mass Catholics take seriously the biblical directive that parents are the primary educators of their children.
“Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church states. “The home is well suited for education in the virtues. This requires an apprenticeship in self-denial, sound judgment, and self-mastery—the preconditions of all true freedom.”
It just drips with radicalism. “Forgiveness” and “self-denial” are obvious codewords for white supremacy, I assume the FBI would say.
Given that faithful Christians are concerned about the moral upbringing of their children, it makes sense they would gravitate to flexible educational options that put parents and kids in charge. But we already know that the Department of Justice views parents who want more say in what their kids are taught as similar to domestic terrorists.
That is why U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland ordered federal law enforcement to look for ways to prosecute parents and other citizens who spoke out at public school board meetings against critical race theory, sexualized curricula, and lockdown policies. People who opt out of the government system are usually seen as a threat by those in charge.
So it makes sense the FBI would be concerned about parents who have opted out of the public school program. After all, the federal government has lost control over what those kids learn and can’t make those kids wear masks and accept state-mandated medical treatments.
2. Meeting Every Sunday with Other People Who Want Good Lives
The FBI, U.S. Department of Defense, and other national security entities have gone woke and embraced critical race theory and LGBT sexual ideology, so it’s no wonder institutions that have held fast to traditional principles would be their target.
It also makes sense, then, that faithful Catholics who spend their Sundays not on drag shows but at church would threaten such a regime. Also, in contrast to the many churches that are dying out, the Latin Mass remains popular, and many churches that celebrate it are bursting at the seams. It is not that people who attend the Latin Mass are somehow inherently more virtuous, but most at least want to embrace virtue and try to grow closer to God.
The message of traditional priests goes against the libertine attitude of LGBT activists who have greatly influenced our federal government. Also, the Christian idea that individuals are responsible for their actions and people should be judged as individuals, not as a collective group responsible for past wrongs, is a threat to critical race theory.
After all, CRT supporters do not want Catholics going to the sacrament of Confession to share how they have failed to live virtuously. Instead, they should pay hundreds of dollars to go to a white privilege talk.
3. Valuing Life, Organic Marriage, and the Sexes
It is well established that federal government entities have it out for pro-life, biblical marriage, anti-gender ideology individuals and groups. After all, the DOJ just lost a case against Mark Houck, a Catholic pro-life dad who stopped an aggressive abortion escort from harassing his 12-year-old son. Couple that with the IRS targeting of Tea Party and conservative Christian groups, and it only follows that churches that hold similar views are on the radar.
According to one popular survey, Catholics who attend the Latin Mass almost exclusively reject abortion and same-sex “marriage.” Even worse for the leftists in the FBI, these Catholics tend to have more kids, given their openness to life. That means even more traditional Catholics are born each day, amplifying the threat. These Christians raise their kids to stay true to the faith, support biblical marriage, and turn to God and their faith, not government and political ideology, in times of trouble.
Even to those who are not Catholic but believe in the sanctity of life or homeschool their kids, the FBI memo should be concerning. An already politicized and weaponized Department of Justice was caught once again targeting innocent Americans for their beliefs.
Matt Lamb is an associate editor for The College Fix and previously worked for Students for Life of America and Turning Point USA. He lives in Indiana with his wife and two kids.
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