The conservative legal group Judicial Watch is continuing to push for more transparency around a memo targeting traditionalist Catholics, which was issued in early 2023 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Richmond field office.
The memo detailed an investigation into a purported connection between “radical traditionalist” Catholics and “the far-right white nationalist movement.” It recommended “trip wire or source development” in Catholic parishes that offer the Traditional Latin Mass and “radical traditionalist” Catholic communities online.
In a federal district court hearing March 20, lawyers for Judicial Watch complained that the FBI has not been fully compliant in its release of records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit against the FBI along with CatholicVote Civic Action.
Although the FBI released more than 200 documents to Judicial Watch, the attorney handling the case, Meredith DiLiberto, told EWTN News they were heavily redacted. Although she said some redactions may be legitimate, “they didn’t provide any justification” for any redactions, in spite of the legal requirement that each redaction be justified.
DiLiberto said “without that [justification], we really can’t narrow the issues” and determine what redactions are legitimate and what redactions should be challenged in court. She said the judge hearing the case, Judge Amir H. Ali, appeared sympathetic to the concerns raised by Judicial Watch and scheduled a status report for March 27.
Judicial Watch is concerned about redactions related to “a lot of internal communication,” which DiLiberto said “is a lot of the cover-up.”
“If they were to release the information, we would see kind of how intentional this was, [and] that this wasn’t [just] one or two agents,” she said.
The Richmond FBI memo was initially drafted under former President Joe Biden’s administration, and DiLiberto said “we’re not surprised [the redactions] happened under the last administration,” but said the FBI “continues to withhold this information” throughout President Donald Trump’s administration.
DiLiberto said the organization is disappointed because FBI Director Kash Patel had seemed “very emotionally invested” in promising more transparency. She recalled his statements at his confirmation hearing about how he would conduct himself.
“There’s not been any difference,” DiLiberto said, adding that simply by following this case, “you would not have known that there was a dramatic shift in the political atmosphere.”
The FBI’s National Press Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After the memo was leaked to the public in early February 2023, the FBI retracted it and removed it from its systems for not meeting “the exacting standards of the FBI.” Over the past three years, Judicial Watch and the House Judiciary Committee have sought more information about the memo and the broader scope of the inquiry into traditionalist Catholics.
This uncovered FBI surveillance of a Catholic priest for refusing to divulge information about a parishioner who was suspected of planning political violence. The priest cited priest-penitent privilege. It also uncovered that the FBI sent at least one undercover agent into a church and that the inquiry was discussed among several field offices.
Several bishops criticized the memo, including Richmond Bishop Barry Knestout, who called it a “threat to religious liberty” and said lawmakers should “ensure that such offenses against the constitutionally protected free exercise of religion do not occur again.”
The FBI memo focused on allegations about violent extremism that sometimes included racist or white supremacist ideas. It was assessing whether a subset of Catholics might overlap with racially motivated violent extremism.
The Catholic Church rejects racism. According to the Second Vatican Council’s Gaudium et Spes: “Every type of discrimination, whether social or cultural, whether based on sex, race, color, social condition, language, or religion, is to be overcome and eradicated as contrary to God’s intent.” White nationalism directly conflicts with Catholic principles of human dignity, solidarity, justice, and the common good.
In a statement prior to the hearing, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton expressed frustration over continued redactions in documents it has received.
“Why won’t this DOJ and FBI reveal the full record on one of the most notorious abuses of power under Biden — the FBI’s targeting of Catholics for their Christian religious beliefs,” Fitton said. “This concerns the First Amendment, and the Biden Justice Department’s flagrant abuse may be criminal.”
