Even against a background of terror threats and increasing talk of political extremism, it was startling to read The Catholic Herald's report about '[n]ewly released documents' confirming 'the FBI's surveillance of traditionalist Catholic communities'.
The operation stemmed from a January 2023 memorandum from their Richmond, VA field office, 'circulated among multiple FBI divisions and viewed by over 1,000 Bureau employees'. Partly influenced by the left-leaning Southern Poverty Law Centre, the memo 'included proposals to investigate Catholic groups through online forms and parish-level contacts', further alleging 'that so-called "radical-traditionalist Catholics" could serve as recruitment pools for racially motivated extremists.'
Initially 'described as an isolated misjudgement', it arose from 'the FBI's categorisation of traditional Catholic observance as a potential domestic extremism indicator.' According to the 'leaked' memorandum, a liking for the Traditional Latin Mass and 'pre-Vatican II liturgical forms could be warning signs.'
It was 'publicly disavowed' by FBI Director Christopher Wray, but 'internal files' showed 'the same terminology' appearing 'in over a dozen intelligence reports'; moreover, 'Other field offices began tracking Catholic communities on the basis of the Richmond memo.'
According to a December 2023 House of Representatives Judiciary Committee report, FBI agents based their warnings on 'a single self-described Catholic extremist and relied heavily on politically biased online sources.' Some agents raised concerns 'about the use of SPLC data to profile religious groups', and in the fallout from the affair, 'the Bureau initiated further training for analysts and imposed new controls on sensitive intelligence documents'.
With members of Congress demanding 'the full release of all FBI records on the matter' and an 'explanation of how practising Catholics were identified as potential threats', the Bureau insisted 'investigations are not launched on the basis of religious affiliations alone' (The Catholic Herald, July/August 2025).
Clearly, the FBI have been watching too many TV dramas in which a crucifix on the wall is a reliable indicator of a crazed killer. Doubtless these cunning clerics conceal machetes under their embroidered chasubles, and improvised explosive devices under their birettas. A liking for Latin could lead them to emulate the Romans in forging an empire; they may even teach their congregants how to strangle people with their rosary beads...
However, the more mundane explanation may be to plant the idea that religious individuals hitherto regarded as harmless, if slightly eccentric, pose an equivalent threat to those who have actually murdered people -- that Islamists are not alone in their tendency to terror. As with the old detective stories, those promoting the fiction that all religions encourage extremism may 'lose' the guilty party in a list of 'suspicious' characters, making them appear to be just another suspect in a very long line.
There is a certain irony in people who believe religious believers are incurably stupid, believing that such individuals are clever enough to be dangerous extremists.
But in the now-dominant leftist religion, the newest is the best; and what could be more suspicious - more right-wing -- than a Catholic priest in old-fashioned garb, preaching a very old-fashioned form of Christianity?
Based on the newest version of 'victim-blaming', our police may, to address rising public disquiet, arrest... Catholics. Indeed, the Herald also reports this approach in the case of peaceful pro-lifers Lois McLatchie Miller and 'Billboard Chris' Elston, arrested by the same Belgian police who failed to 'address the aggression of the crowd' that was menacing... the Catholics ('Belgian police arrest UK human rights activist', The Catholic Herald, July/August 2025).
The 'racist' slur is ironic, given the appallingly high number of Catholics slaughtered in Africa, often by Islamists; but when the mainstream media fails to report such atrocities, it is easier to maintain. And even when they do notice, these so-called 'clashes' are blamed on 'climate change', and the search for ever-scarcer pasture by Fulani herdsmen who naturally require automatic weapons and machetes to clear the most promising grazing grounds - of Christians.
When it comes to African Christians, apparently, Black Lives Don't Matter. And the SPLC -- big fans of BLM -- is a leftist organisation which labels 'conservative', pro-family groups as extremists.
It would seem that anti-Catholic sentiment, far from being a long-lost feature of the Reformation, or of the American Ku Klux Klan, has re-emerged on the Left. But the Catholic Church still believes in the sanctity of innocent human life, whereas the leftist religion regards abortion as a
Yes, Catholic priests have committed crimes, notably sexual abuse; but these were a minority, in times when sexual deviancy was less spoken about, because less common
Now, thanks to greater 'openness', deviancy is much more common, and we have gone from thinking it couldn't possibly happen to it becoming commonplace, which has helped distract from the scandal of those in authority for decades studiously ignoring the mass gang-rape of children -- not by Catholic priests, but by adherents of a religion more closely associated with terrorism.
Sadly, child sexual abuse has also afflicted the Church of England, schools, and even children's TV - in fact, anywhere children can be found, including, of course, the family. But if the 'family' is a non-traditional one, the authorities will turn a blind eye to the potential for paedophilia, especially when it involves hiring a 'surrogate' mother to provide the victim.
Historical tales of clerical crime still retain the power to shock, although regarding 'memories' of cruel nuns from Ireland's Catholic past, lurid fiction compensates for lack of facts regarding those days when the Church cared for the poor on a pittance -- something nobody else wanted to do, least of all the State. But if the truth is so terrible, why invent lies? Perhaps because it allows the secular powers to 'virtue signal' by bullying an easy target like the Legion of Mary, while also sending the message that it is much kinder to abort 'unwanted' children.
In the United States, moves have been made to force priests to break the seal of confession to report child abuse, the implication being that Catholic teaching allows child abusers to be repeatedly absolved of their crimes. Paedophiles are hardly counted among the devoutly religious, but as G.K. Chesterton would say, they may be torn between a desire to conceal their offences and to boast about them.
However, with a new understanding of the nature of this most despicable crime - that far from involving occasional lapses, the perpetrators are deeply flawed personalities for whom deadly sin is a way of life - the Church has introduced strict new measures to guard against the problem.
Despite this, the EU (with generous funding from 'left-wing' capitalists) has been accused of attempting to smear pro-life groups as 'religious extremists'.
In the UK, the previous Conservative administration tried to shift the attention of official counter-extremism from social conservatives back to real terror threats.
However, in an apparent bid to refocus suspicion on Christianity, specifically Catholics, Jess Phillips, Prime Minister Starmer's Home Office minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, told the National Secular Society (not exactly a neutral entity) that religious institutions are not exempted from the legal duty to report child sexual abuse to police under the Government's Crime and Policing Bill, even if revealed in the confessional.
The Starmocracy is also considering an 'Islamophobia' law, and this 'right on' censorship - a kind of blasphemy law through the back door - would not only undermine Christianity but also free speech, the very foundation of democracy.
Western democracies may be reluctant to openly attack Christianity, but Catholics, though included in a long line of suspect denominations, will never be 'lost in a list'. They can serve as a useful scapegoat - a warning to other Christians to remain quiet about repressive measures, or receive the same treatment.
With 'secretive' Catholics so good at concealment (remember those Jesuits!), society surely needs to defend itself; however, spying on Catholics is far easier - and far less dangerous - than spying on real terrorists. It takes much less effort to note the number of old ladies attending the old Latin Mass, and their preference for ancient hymns and old-fashioned vestments. But with the resurgence of interest in Christianity, including Catholicism, especially among the young, the perceived danger may be not that the Church is dying but - like its Founder - is being reborn.
The supreme irony is that anybody seeking clues to Catholic beliefs has no need to resort to spying; they have only to study a Catholic Catechism - or, if they fear getting lost in such a long list, read The Catholic Herald.