Catholic leaders across the country are expressing outrage following newly released congressional records showing that the FBI’s surveillance and profiling of traditionalist Catholics was broader and more systemic than previously acknowledged.
Earlier this week, documents obtained and released by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) revealed that a controversial February 2023 memo produced by the FBI’s Richmond, Virginia, field office—warning of "radical traditionalist Catholic" ties to violent extremism—was not only shared with over 1,000 employees but also discussed by field offices in cities such as Milwaukee, Phoenix, and Louisville.
Though the FBI quickly rescinded the Richmond memo following public backlash, these new findings confirm what Catholic advocates and civil liberties groups have long feared: that the memo was not a one-off, but part of a broader effort within the bureau to scrutinize religious communities under the guise of domestic threat assessments.
“That the FBI, an agency designed to protect Americans and protect our freedoms, was weaponized against peaceful, practicing Catholics is appalling,” said Ashley McGuire, a senior fellow at the Catholic Association.
McGuire criticized the agency for misleading Congress and the public, calling the operation “a national campaign using the leverage of a powerful agency to target Catholics.”
According to the documents released by Senator Grassley, the FBI produced over a dozen internal documents using similar language and even drafted a second memo with anti-Catholic undertones. These revelations call into question former FBI Director Christopher Wray’s 2023 congressional testimony, in which he downplayed the controversy as the work of a single rogue field office.
Catholic Vote, a prominent conservative Catholic advocacy group, went further, characterizing the FBI’s actions as politically motivated religious profiling.
“We now know that the FBI under President Biden launched a nationally coordinated effort to monitor traditional Catholics as ‘potential domestic terrorists’ because his administration perceived them as political enemies,” said Josh Mercer, the organization’s vice president.
“This frontal assault on the First Amendment should horrify every American – and it must never be allowed to happen again.”
The Richmond memo drew heavily from analysis provided by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a progressive organization known for labeling various conservative and religious groups as “extremist.” This reliance has come under sharp scrutiny from both within and outside the bureau. According to the newly released records, FBI staff in cities like Milwaukee and Phoenix raised concerns over the SPLC’s credibility and ideological bias.
“It’s disturbingly ironic that President Biden’s Federal Bureau of Investigation relied on the discredited Southern Poverty Law Center for guidance on domestic threats rather than do its own homework,” said Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, director of the Conscience Project, a Catholic legal and policy group.
“Profiling based on religion is not just ineffective—it’s a betrayal of our Constitution.”
The outrage comes at a time when trust in federal institutions is already strained, and some fear that religious liberty is being increasingly politicized. Faith leaders are now calling for full transparency and accountability from the FBI, including an internal audit and independent oversight.
FBI Director Kash Patel, who assumed the role earlier this year, has pledged to investigate allegations of anti-Catholic bias within the bureau and to fully cooperate with ongoing congressional oversight.
“Catholics deserve a full reckoning,” Picciotti-Bayer added. “The rights of all religious Americans depend on it.”
Despite the FBI’s efforts to distance itself from the Richmond memo, the growing evidence of broader institutional involvement suggests that the issue is far from resolved. For now, Catholic groups are demanding justice—not just for themselves, but for the principles of religious freedom and equal protection that underpin American democracy.
