In an article published by Newsweek, TCA’s Ashley McGuire writes an article titled “The FBI’s Catholicism Memo Is No Laughing Matter.” She writes:
“It’s okay to be Roman Catholic, right?”
That was the question Congressman Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) posed to an FBI official in recent investigative hearings run by Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
“Somebody answer me please,” Van Drew followed up, after an awkward silence.
You’ll forgive him for asking. The hearings, ignored almost entirely save for a handful of conservative news outlets, were looking into the leaked FBI memo alleging some kind of tie between what it called “radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology” and “violent extremism.” The FBI is now being sued over its failure to comply with a standard FOIA request to release emails discussing its contents. The agency’s recalcitrance is unsurprising, given the memo’s appalling contents.
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It’s all the more deranged when you consider that Roman Catholics are currently the targets of an alarming pattern of attacks, many of them by actual violent extremists who don’t like the Church’s position on issues like abortion. According to a tracker maintained by CatholicVote, since the May 2022 leak of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, there have been nearly 150 attacks on Catholic Churches. Since CatholicVote began tracking in May 2020, the number is over 300.
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A government looking to quell violent extremism should be studying the few remaining ties that bind us—instead of trying to sever them.
