The new batch of documents on the Biden FBI Catholic spy ring makes it clear that those responsible for this obscene gambit need to be held accountable. The Senate Judiciary Committee, headed by Sen. Chuck Grassley, can begin by subpoenaing former FBI Director Christopher Wray and former Attorney General Merrick Garland.
When he testified in July 2023, Wray said he knew nothing about traditional Catholics being targeted by the FBI; by that time we knew that the Bureau was not content to simply go after “radical-traditionalist Catholics”—it was zeroing in on “mainline” Catholics. He said that when he first learned of this he was “aghast.” Garland testified in September and said he was “appalled” by this revelation.
As I asked in November 2023, “What exactly have they done about?” We still don’t know, which is why they need to testify again.
On December 4, 2024, the House Report of the Committee on the Judiciary and Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government noted that the Special Agent in charge of the Richmond field office, which issued the infamous memo on the Catholic spy ring, said the memo “could be to inform…other intelligence analysts across the country.” We now know from the new documents that the Richmond office did, in fact, consult with the Louisville, Portland and Milwaukee offices.
What were these FBI agents interested in uncovering? We know from the aforementioned Select Subcommittee report that the spy operation focused exclusively on those Catholics who were “pro-life,” “pro family,” and who “support the biological basis for sex and gender distinction.” These practicing Catholics were labeled “domestic terrorists,” treated as if they were firebombing government offices.
Exhibit C in the newly released documents also mentions the FBI fixation on “hostility toward abortion-rights advocates.”
On April 18, 2024, a report on the FBI’s internal probe of Analysts involved in the investigation of Catholics was published. I read Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report, and on April 24, I wrote to Rep. Jim Jordan of the House Judiciary Committee about it. It is worth mentioning some excerpts.
“It is as revealing as it is disturbing to note that the probe of Catholics was based on one person, namely, Defendant A. That he is clearly a violent, bigoted thug—he hates everyone from Jews to cops—is uncontested. But where are the others? There isn’t even a Defendant B.
“More disturbing is the admission that Defendant A does not attend a Catholic church. The report admits that he attended a church ‘with an international religious society that advocates traditional Catholic theology and liturgy but it is not considered by the Vatican to be in full communion with the Catholic Church (my italics).’”
The report further notes that “there is no evidence that Defendant A was being radicalized” at the church he attended.
In other words, this entire witch hunt spying on practicing Catholics was cooked up by the FBI on the basis of one nut job who wasn’t even Catholic.
Then there is the role of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a wicked hate group that has a history of smearing conventional conservative organizations. Why would anyone in the FBI rely on them? The new batch of documents reveals that when agents from the Milwaukee and Phoenix offices warned against using SPLC as a source, no one listened. Why didn’t they? We also know that files related to SPLC were deleted.
Even more disturbing, we now know that then-FBI-Deputy-Director Paul Abbate ordered “a permanent removal of the memorandum, as well as any edits or references, from all FBI systems,” telling the Special Agent in Charge of the Richmond field office to “pull it down,” the same day the memo was made public.
Looks like Sen. Grassley may want to issue subpoenas to many more operatives than Wray and Garland.
Finally, it must be noted that the FBI never once went after dissident Catholics, those activists who seek to discredit the Church from within. Not to be misunderstood—the FBI should not do so; it’s none of their business. But by seeking to malign loyal Catholics, those who are in communion with the Church, the FBI has done much greater damage to the Catholic Church than the dissidents could ever do.
Catholics deserve to know the truth, and the whole truth. Those responsible for this outrageous violation of the First Amendment rights of Catholics need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Contact Grassley’s chief of staff: james_rice@grassley.senate.gov
