Judiciary Committee: FBI spied on Catholic priest for not divulging info on parishioner
Caroline MolloyThe Richmond office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) spied on a priest because he refused to discuss private conversations he had with a parishioner who was converting to Catholicism, according to a July 22 report from the House Judiciary Committee.
According to the report, the Richmond FBI investigated the priest’s background, monitored his travel plans, and looked into his credit card information. This investigation was allegedly launched after the priest became uncomfortable with an FBI agent’s questions about a parishioner and said he would need to speak to the church’s leadership and an attorney before answering questions.
“There appeared to be no legitimate law-enforcement purpose for investigating this priest,” the report determined. “This new information suggests that the FBI’s religious liberty abuses were more widespread than the FBI initially admitted and led the public to believe.”
The report, provided to CNA by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan’s office, offers more details about the extent to which the FBI investigated so-called “radical traditionalist” Catholics.
The FBI’s investigation into supposed “radical traditionalist” Catholic ties to “the far-right white national movement” was first revealed to the public through a leaked Richmond FBI memo in February 2023.
Although the FBI under former President Joe Biden quickly disavowed the document when it came to light and asserted it was a single product of a single field agency, information unveiled by the Judiciary Committee shows the investigatory efforts into Catholics was more widespread and that the national FBI headquarters was involved.
In the report, the committee states that the Richmond FBI was working with the national FBI headquarters to develop an agency-wide document on “radical traditionalist” Catholics, which was ultimately shelved. The headquarters and other field offices also coordinated with the Richmond FBI investigation of the previously mentioned priest.
The 2023 memo cited the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for the definition of “radical traditionalist” Catholicism, but the new committee report says the field office relied on “several radical anti-religious materials” from organizations that “spewed radical, left-leaning ideology” to inform the agency apart from just the SPLC.
