 [RedState] At a time when the rate of attacks on Catholic churches is increasing–a study found 278 such attacks since 2020 alone–the FBI has decided now is the time to label traditional Catholics as purveyors of anti-Semitism and white supremacy. A so-called “intelligence analyst” at the Richmond Field Office authored a recently-released report that warns the nation apparently faces a serious threat from Catholics who prefer the Latin Mass. The analyst also coined two fancy new acronyms: Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists (RMVEs) and Radical-Traditionalist Catholics (RTCs).
The report is long on accusations and short on actual evidence that there’s an existential threat from Catholics, who prefer monks chanting to nuns playing folk songs on tambourines. RTCs seem to really rankle the author:
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.”
As someone who racked up 12 years of Catholic school in the post-Vatican II 1970s and 1980s (see above reference to nuns wielding tambourines), I can say without hesitation that longing for pre-Vatican II traditions is a sign merely that many Catholics see value in them. It certainly isn’t a sign that they are plotting to bring down the country, and the report fails to provide an iota proof to support that supposition.
Instead, it relies on the discredited Southern Poverty Law Center (even pre-Elon Musk Twitter didn’t trust them) and its list of “Radical Traditional Catholicism Hate Groups.” According to one source, “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.”
Other sources for this attack on Christians include the left-leaning Salon and The Atlantic. These two leftist publications regularly demean and slander conservatives–and it seems their inclusion in this FBI report is merely to tie Catholics to right-leaning political performance artists like Nick Fuentes and Milo Yiannopolis, whose tired schtick appeals to lonely teenage boys and certainly doesn’t intersect with the Catholic Church in the Venn diagram of life in the United States.
So, what is the FBI to do about those pesky Catholics and their rosary-praying ways? Infiltrate them, apparently. This:
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.
I mean, the FBI is welcome to infiltrate the weekly Knights of Columbus meeting, but they’ll likely to be disappointed to find out that insurrection isn’t on the menu, but BBQ chicken and a planning meeting for a Toys for Tots drive. It’s just more of the same from the left, who are looking for any means necessary to attack Christians and conservatives. The compiler of this report is acting with a clear bias, which is not surprising in this day and age when the FBI is weaponized to act against every day Americans.
Super Devout Catholic (Just Ask Him) President Joe Biden, who’s been known to wield the FBI like a cudgel, was unavailable for comment.
|
