(RepublicanView.org) – Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has subpoenaed Christopher Way, Director of the FBI, in connection with a memo that explored methods of obtaining information about links between white supremacists and the Catholic Church. The note was produced at the FBI field office in Richmond, Virginia, and detailed a meeting between FBI agents and church leaders to investigate the “warning signs of radicalization.”
The memo, seen as the go-ahead for spying on church-goers, was seized on by the GOP of evidence of anti-Catholic bias in federal agencies, particularly in the light of the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v Wade. In addition, the document purported a connection between white nationalism and “Radical-Traditionalist Catholics.”
Jordan said, “Americans attend church to worship and congregate for their spiritual and personal betterment. They must be free to exercise their fundamental First Amendment rights without worrying that the FBI may have planted so-called ‘tripwire’ sources or other informants in their houses of worship.”
Former FBI agent Kyle Seraphin leaked the memo and stated that the federal agency sought to “protect” Americans from white supremacy and that this had found a home in the Catholic Church. It noted that the FBI is confident it can “mitigate the threat of Radical-Traditionalist Catholics by recruiting sources within the Catholic Church.”
The eight-page document was formulated with the aid of the far-left group the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has warned of so-called “hate groups” with connections to the church.
The exposure of the memo was met with fury by Catholics, as well as by Christopher Wray. The FBI chief said when he first learned of the document, he was “aghast.” It was immediately withdrawn, and he insisted it does not reflect FBI standards and the agency does not conduct investigations based on religion. He added that his office would inquire into the memo’s origin.
A group of law enforcement officers from 20 states wrote a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland condemning the document as “anti-Catholic.”
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