{"id":1995951,"date":"2023-08-09T20:08:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T00:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/religious-group-blasts-fbi-memo-unconstitutional-effort-to-surveil-catholics\/"},"modified":"2023-08-09T20:09:50","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T00:09:50","slug":"religious-group-blasts-fbi-memo-unconstitutional-effort-to-surveil-catholics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/religious-group-blasts-fbi-memo-unconstitutional-effort-to-surveil-catholics\/","title":{"rendered":"Religious group condemns FBI memo: &#8216;Unconstitutional Catholic surveillance&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Freligious-group-blasts-fbi-memo-unconstitutional-effort-to-surveil-catholics%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1995951&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>A Catholic advocacy group slams FBI \u2062over\u2063 surveillance of &#8220;traditionalist&#8221; Catholics<\/h2>\n<p>A Catholic advocacy group has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/must-watch-foxs-maccallum-blisters-national-teachers-union-president-on-alleged-influence-on-biden-critical-race-theory-1619-project\/\" title=\"MUST-WATCH: Fox\u2019s MacCallum Blisters National Teachers Union President On Alleged Influence On Biden, Critical Race Theory, 1619 Project\">strongly criticized<\/a> the FBI after it was revealed that \u2064the bureau&#8217;s efforts to target certain &#8220;traditionalist&#8221; Catholics may have been more \u200cwidespread than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gamestop-stock-plummets-but-reddit-rebellion-sparking-war-on-big-money-investors\/\" title=\"GameStop Stock Plummets But \u2018Reddit Rebellion\u2019 Sparking War On Big Money Investors\">initially thought<\/a>. CatholicVote, \u200breferring \u200bto a less redacted \u200dversion of an FBI\u2063 document released by\u200b the \u200cHouse \u200dJudiciary Committee, \u2063discovered that the initiative involved not only the Richmond\u200c office but also the Portland and Los \u200bAngeles offices.<\/p>\n<h3>FBI&#8217;s\u2063 actions raise serious concerns<\/h3>\n<p>CatholicVote President Brian Burch expressed his concerns, stating, \u2063&#8221;The FBI has finally acknowledged what \u2062we have long \u200bsuspected, namely that FBI efforts to spy on Catholic churches went far beyond a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/religious-group-blasts-fbi-memo-unconstitutional-effort-to-surveil-catholics\/\" title=\"Religious group condemns FBI memo: 'Unconstitutional Catholic surveillance'\">single field\u200b office<\/a> \u2062and a so-called rogue agent.&#8221; Burch further questioned the \u200dintent, purpose, and scope of this unconstitutional effort to surveil Catholics inside churches across America.<\/p>\n<p>The leaked document, originally\u200c issued \u200cby\u2064 the\u200c FBI&#8217;s Richmond field\u2062 office, identified &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/atlantic-writer-claims-rosary-is-an-extremist-symbol-with-militaristic-meaning-for-christian-nationalists\/\" title=\"Atlantic Writer Claims Rosary Is An \u2018Extremist Symbol\u2019 With \u2018Militaristic\u2019 Meaning For Christian Nationalists\">radical-traditionalist<\/a> Catholics&#8221; as\u2063 a potential threat.\u2062 The FBI based its conclusions on various\u2062 sources, including an undercover agent&#8217;s work, calls to jails,\u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-admin-announces-new-actions-and-funding-to-combat-anti-asian-violence-xenophobia-and-bias\/\" title=\"Biden Admin Announces New Actions And Funding To Combat \u2018Anti-Asian Violence, Xenophobia And Bias\u2019\">local law enforcement reporting<\/a>, and\u2062 information from a &#8220;liaison contact&#8221; in \u2064Portland \u2063and an FBI investigation in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p>Opportunities for &#8220;threat mitigation&#8221; were also outlined \u2064in the\u2063 document, including engaging\u200c with Catholic \u200dleaders \u2063to act as &#8220;tripwires&#8221; or sources for\u2063 the FBI. However, the FBI retracted the document after facing criticism from religious freedom\u200d advocates, with FBI\u2062 Director Christopher\u2064 Wray denouncing it in a congressional hearing.<\/p>\n<h3>Investigation into the extent of surveillance<\/h3>\n<p>Judiciary Committee Chairman \u200dJim Jordan is now demanding records\u200d from\u2063 Wray to determine the true scale of the effort to target \u200c&#8221;radical-traditionalist&#8221; \u200cCatholics.\u2063 CatholicVote has also filed a\u200b lawsuit against\u2062 the FBI, seeking the fulfillment of a\u2063 Freedom of Information Act request that the FBI has claimed is exempt from disclosure.<\/p>\n<p>Burch commented on the FBI&#8217;s response to their\u200b request, \u2062saying, &#8220;We also can&#8217;t help but wonder if these admissions help explain why the FBI has done everything possible to withhold information requested by our \u200cFreedom of Information Act request,\u2064 now lawsuit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Justice Department has responded to the revelations, pointing to \u200dWray&#8217;s \u200ccongressional \u200ctestimony and a letter he\u2063 wrote to Jordan. In the letter, Wray stated that an internal review of\u200b the \u200ddocument was almost complete and offered to brief the committee on August 22.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\">Click here<\/a> to read more from The\u2062 Washington Examiner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Catholic advocacy group criticized the FBI for targeting &#8220;traditionalist&#8221; Catholics, suggesting the issue may extend beyond the Richmond office. CatholicVote cited a House Judiciary Committee document, which revealed the involvement of the FBI&#8217;s Portland and other undisclosed offices. The group expressed concern over the broader implications of this revelation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1995952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1995951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1995951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1995952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1995951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1995951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1995951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}