The Truth You Weren't Supposed To Hear About The FBI's "Catholic Memo."
By now, everyone has heard about the FBI “Catholic Memo.” Just about every conservative media outlet drank greedily from a spring poisoned at its source. And, members of Congress have eagerly perpetuated the sensational claim that the FBI is out to infiltrate and arrest churchgoers for nothing more than practicing the tenets of their faith.
All of that is based entirely on an incomplete document wherein the key to its proper interpretation was redacted, strategically, by a propagandist with a black highlighter. I must emphasize, the redactions in the documents initially leaked to the public were unofficial — not made by the FBI. Either former FBI Agent Kyle Seraphin or the FBI employee he received the documents from performed the hasty redactions before releasing them to the public.
UncoverDC published the original information produced by Seraphin; however, mysteriously, as of this writing the referenced, highly redacted documents no longer appear in the column. Additionally, UncoverDC has yet to respond to queries. You can view a collection of the original documents here. Take note especially of the extensive redactions on pages two and three.
A recent piece by Paul Moses in Commonweal Magazine has refocused attention on the FBI “Catholic Memo.” The publication describes itself on its X account as “A review of religion, politics, and culture since 1924, edited by lay Catholics.” To be precise, the document popularly referred to as the “Catholic Memo” is called a Domain Perspective (DP), intended, in this case, for very limited distribution to Richmond FBI management. The purpose of a DP is to provide FBI managers with an overview of the threats within their area of responsibility. These documents are produced by non-agent Intelligence Analysts (IA) whose purpose is to provide strategic and tactical analysis on the law enforcement threats the FBI is responsible for thwarting or mitigating.
Moses’ piece provides some valuable critical analysis that’s been missing to this point. Most importantly, he identifies the subject buried under the black marker scribbled across the documents first released to the public. Xavier Lopez, and the other domestic terrorists which were the predicates for the Richmond DP, are the critical pieces of context which were purposefully withheld from the public.
What is especially noteworthy is that Lopez’s identity could have easily been redacted while conveying the vitally important information about the Domestic Terrorism (DT) investigation that was underway, as the DP presented to Congress reveals. Therefore, there can be no argument made for the heavy redactions on the grounds of attempting to preserve Lopez’s identity; which is especially true given his public arrest records available approximately a year before the DP was produced and subsequently leaked.
Though poorly executed, the Richmond DP was based on properly predicated DT investigations, and was intended as a tool with which to liaison with Catholic congregations vulnerable to infiltration by racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVEs). In particular, (as contained in a supplementary footnote) The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) had been infiltrated by Lopez. The SSPX is a schismatic element of Roman Catholicism that is considered by Rome to be “canonically irregular.” Several other offshoots from SSPX were also noted. As Moses reports, SSPX has been accused of promoting antisemitic views.
The Richmond Field Office had identified Lopez to be their “highest priority domestic terrorism subject. He was rated fourth overall on the FBI’s Indicators of Mobilization to Violence,” as documented in DOJ’s OIG report. Lopez, in social media posts, said SSPX was a “‘traditional church that isn’t totally kiked [sic],’ and stated that he ‘had to deal with the priest and some (thankfully not all) the parishioners talking about how ‘Hitler bad’ though thankfully they do actually acknowledge that the allies were evil.’”
Another important piece of context hidden by the as yet unknown redactor, is that Lopez was a self-described “‘radical traditional Catholic Clerical Fascist.’” The OIG report also documents that Lopez referred to himself as a “rad-trad” among other things. A shortcoming of the DP is the failure to point out that the term RTC (radical traditional Catholic) derives largely from Lopez, and other violent radicals, and does not implicate Catholics broadly speaking.
One of the most misquoted components of the DP is the Analyst Note on page one. The DP specifically distinguishes the “anti-semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ, and white supremacist ideology” of “Radical-traditionalist Catholics,” represented by domestic terrorists like Lopez who identify as RTCs, from “‘traditionalist Catholics’ who prefer the Traditional Latin Mass and pre-Vatican II teachings,” and are “SEPARATE and DISTINCT” [my emphasis] from RTCs like Lopez. As the OIG report documents, the IA’s intent was not to implicate Catholics generally, but domestic terrorists who may claim the title “rad-trad.”
Those who prefer the Traditional Latin Mass or adhere to pre-Vatican II teachings are not and never were the subject of FBI interest. Nor is the Catholic Church an FBI target, as is now abundantly clear from the more complete DP provided to Congress and from the OIG report.
Incongruously, Moses quotes from former FBI Agent Michael German who now works for the liberal Brennan Center for Justice. German says “the practice of gathering intelligence based on ideology is ineffective and unfair.” A more thoroughly liberal and, therefore, ridiculous statement could hardly be formulated. Ideology is the reason for radicalization and the precursor for every act of brutality and terrorism since the dawn of time. Having said that, basing criminal investigations solely on ideology is not just unfair, it’s a violation of civil liberties.
Disturbingly, Xavier Lopez wrote a letter to his aunt from the Henrico County Jail postmarked May 28, 2021. In it, he says, “All that needs to be done is for us to truly unite in Christ Jesus and make total war against the Satanic occultist government and the Zionist devil worshiping bankers who control it…Jews, liberals, communists, degenerates, Zionists…capitalists…are the greatest enemies of God…” Lopez’s anti-semitism is particularly repulsive given the October 7th attacks perpetrated by Hamas. When terrorists use the cloak of religiosity, law enforcement must be particularly circumspect. As the OIG report states, the FBI instructed its UCE to report only on Lopez’s criminal activity. A catalog of Lopez’s acts in furtherance can be found on page 3 of the DP — information that was conveniently redacted in the original, publicized document.
On August 15, 2023, I stated in my column that it’s “inaccurate to suggest that the FBI is targeting Catholics for investigation.” There’s much more in that column that is apropos of all this new information. In March 2024, Lopez pled guilty to possessing destructive devices. Sentencing is scheduled for September 2024.
Just a few days ago, DOJ’s OIG released a report titled, “Notification of Concerns Regarding the Department of Justice’s Compliance with Whistleblower Protections for Employees with a Security Clearance.” The report finds that the FBI is not following the law with regard to whistleblower protections. This report has been met with resounding applause from conservative media and lawmakers. However, the same cannot be said about the OIG report which undermines the fundamental claims about the “anti-Catholic Memo.” The same voices that are lauding the whistleblower OIG report, deride the “Catholic Memo” report simply because they’ve invested so much in that narrative. The truth should matter despite ego, profit, or notoriety.
The FBI, in this case, was doing its job, protecting religious institutions from infiltration by violent, radicalized individuals. Someone purposefully concealed the diabolical machinations of Xavier Lopez, two other subjects, and misled the public on a vast scale about the nature of a critical FBI domestic terrorism investigation — it all sounds a lot like a foreign intelligence covert action program to me. The people responsible for the leak and publication of the original, highly redacted “Catholic Memo” may not be witting participants in foreign intelligence operations, but they are, at the least, the useful idiots that Vladimir Lenin mocked.
There are plenty of things to criticize the FBI for: the Mar-a-Lago raid, the ongoing January 6th investigation, and its racist DEIA polices among other legitimate matters. But, publicizing incomplete, inaccurate, or falsified information simply to serve a pet narrative — or to launch a public career based on a publicity stunt — only serves to waste the limited time and investigatory resources of policy makers who are working to protect cvil liberties.
Furthermore, allowing spurious information to be propagated by conservative media degrades the public confidence in these outlets, which is especially grievous during critical times like these. Conservative media has to do better — you’re not immune to being defrauded by disingenuous, self-serving, or manipulative sources. The furor over the “Catholic memo” is a case study in journalistic misfeasance and source reporting hucksterism.