New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan in a September 20, 2018 photo. (CNS photo/Jeenah Moon, Reuters)
Boston, Mass., Feb 17, 2023 / 15:15 pm (CNA).
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) responded Thursday to a leaked document from the FBI that appears to reveal that the bureau’s Richmond division launched an investigation into “radical traditionalist” Catholics and their possible ties to “the far-right white nationalist movement.”
“Let me first be clear: Anyone who espouses racism or promotes violence is rejecting Catholic teaching on the inherent dignity of each and every person,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee for Religious Liberty, said in a Feb. 16 statement. “The USCCB roundly condemns such extremism and fully supports the work of law enforcement officials to keep our communities safe.”
The leaked document has been condemned by several federal and state officials, as well as clergy, including Bishop Barry Knestout of the Diocese of Richmond, who recently called the memo a “threat to religious liberty.”
“I agree with my brother Bishop Barry Knestout that the leaked memorandum was nonetheless ‘troubling and offensive’ in several respects — such as in its religious profiling and reliance on dubious sourcing — and am glad it has been rescinded,” Dolan said. “We encourage federal law enforcement authorities to take appropriate measures to ensure the problematic aspects of the memo do not recur in any of their agencies’ work going forward.”
Since the document was leaked, many Catholics have criticized the FBI, but in a statement to CNA Feb. 9, the bureau said it would remove the document because “it does not meet our exacting standards.”
The FBI’s national press office confirmed to CNA that the document came from the Richmond office but stated that it would “remove the document from FBI systems” because it “does not meet the exacting standards of the FBI.”
“While our standard practice is to not comment on specific intelligence products, this particular field office product — disseminated only within the FBI — regarding racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism does not meet the exacting standards of the FBI,” the statement read.
“Upon learning of the document, FBI Headquarters quickly began taking action to remove the document from FBI systems and conduct a review of the basis for the document. The FBI is committed to sound analytic tradecraft and to investigating and preventing acts of violence and other crimes while upholding the constitutional rights of all Americans and will never conduct investigative activities or open an investigation based solely on First Amendment protected activity,” the statement from the FBI National Press Office concluded.
The document, dated Jan. 23, claims that racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists will likely become more interested in “radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology” within the next 12 to 24 months “in the run-up to the next general election cycle.”
It points to potential “policy issues of mutual interest” between “radical-traditional” Catholics and violent extremists such as “abortion rights, immigration, affirmative action, and LGBTQ protections.”
Marked “unclassified/for official use only,” the document includes a list of organizations with Catholic ties that are listed on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) list of hate groups.
Some of the organizations identified in the document as adhering to “radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology” include Tradition in Action, The Remnant, Culture Wars Magazine, and the Fatima Crusader.
The SPLC has faced questions about its credibility from conservative and Christian organizations that have accused the group of a left-wing bias. Among the groups that made the SPLC’s 2021 list of supposed “hate groups” are the conservative and pro-family groups Alliance Defending Freedom, the Family Research Council, ACT for America, the Center for Security Policy, and the American Freedom Law Center.
The internal memorandum, titled “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities,” was first published Feb. 8 by the website UncoverDC and can be read here.
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The Adoration Chapel at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Beaufort, South Carolina. / Photo Credit: Aaron Miller, Miller Design & Marketing
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 20, 2023 / 05:00 am (CNA).
“Awesome. Awesome.”
That’s how Anna Sudomerski, the communications coordinator at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Beaufort, South Carolina, describes the parish’s eucharistic adoration program.
St. Peter’s is among the parishes in the United States that are hosting perpetual eucharistic adoration with the Blessed Sacrament exposed 24 hours a day.
Since Church law dictates that exposition of the Blessed Sacrament requires at least one adorer present at all times, this means the parishes that opt for this extraordinary form of worship must coordinate a major year-round effort to ensure at least one volunteer is present before the Eucharist every hour of the day.
Eucharistic adoration, whether exposed or reserved in the tabernacle, is an ancient custom of the Church dating back to its earliest centuries. Yet its practice today occurs among flagging faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, with U.S. Catholics signaling a growing reluctance to believe that Jesus is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament.
Yet multiple parishes around the country in recent years have maintained vibrant adoration initiatives, including St. Peter’s, which began its perpetual adoration in the early 1990s.
Sudomerski said the St. Peter’s adoration program started at the parish’s original historic church in downtown Beaufort. With the construction of a new church building in 2006, adoration moved to a purpose-built chapel there.
For years, Sudomerski said, the adoration program was run by team captains who each supervised a specific stretch of hours within a given 24-hour period.
“They were in charge of certain times, like from midnight to 6 a.m., in case the adorer could not make it, so the captain would have to find a substitute or cover the hour themselves,” she told CNA. “We had four team captains covering midnight to 6, 6 to noon, noon to 6, and 6 to midnight.”
She said the church’s adoption of the sign-up software Adoration Pro “made it a lot easier for people to sign up.”
“From there, ever since, we’ve done several campaigns,” she said. “One to pass out interest forms to see who would be interested in what hour. We just finished another campaign because Father thought the Eucharist is the most important thing that we have. We’ve done callouts, mailings.”
Light of the World Catholic Church in Littleton, Colorado
Kathryn Nygaard, the communications director at Light of the World Catholic Church in Littleton, Colorado, outside of Denver, said the parish has maintained an adoration program since 2007.
“There are two parishioners who are the main adoration chapel coordinators and they do an incredible job,” she said. “In addition, there are 24 ‘hourly coordinators’ to assist with making sure substitutes fill in during open hours and communicating with the adorers in their specific hour.”
“There are approximately 270 people involved in adoration, as either regularly scheduled adorers or as substitutes,” she said. The church hosts two “renewal weekends” in February for adorers to re-up for the coming year; regular announcements are also made at weekend Masses to attract more interest.
Adorers at Light of the World use the church software Flocknote to communicate with one another, Nygaard said. “Most requests for substitutes are filled within 1-2 days,” she noted.
Bishops aim to ‘start a fire’ of eucharistic renewal
The U.S. bishops last year launched the National Eucharistic Revival, meant to “start a fire” of eucharistic devotion among Catholics in the United States. The initiative was first conceived following the 2019 Pew poll showing low numbers of Catholics with a belief in the Real Presence.
As part of the three-year program, parishes around the country have been encouraged to launch Eucharist-focused programs and events to draw parishioners into a deeper relationship with Jesus through the Blessed Sacrament.
Next year, the bishops will host a National Eucharistic Congress featuring multiple high-profile Catholic speakers along with what is expected to be a crowd of about 80,000 Catholics. Pope Francis in June called next year’s national congress “a significant moment in the life of the Church in the United States.”
St. Bonaventure Catholic Church in Columbus, Nebraska
At St. Bonaventure Catholic Church in Columbus, Nebraska, worshippers have been keeping perpetual adoration there for more than 62 years — since Feb. 14, 1961, according to a live clock on the parish’s website.
The exposed Blessed Sacrament at St. Bonaventure Catholic Church in Columbus, Nebraska. Credit: Tim Cumberland
The parish on its website says the roots of its adoration program go back to 1949 and expanded thereafter. The program now includes worshippers from other nearby parishes who come to participate in adoration.
Parishioner Tim Cumberland told CNA the church is “blessed to have about 550 people in the program.”
“A few years ago, we went to an automated process of managing our perpetual adoration program, using the Adoration Pro software,” Cumberland said. “This has greatly improved our ability for our adorers to find subs online when necessary. A request for a substitute is usually filled within minutes.”
Kim Waller said the 25-year-old adoration program at Holy Infant Catholic Church in Ballwin, Missouri, still uses a coordinator-led sign-up program instead of an online sign-up. Like many programs, Holy Infant breaks down management of the adoration schedule into hourly segments.
“The 24 hourly coordinators form the backbone of perpetual adoration,” she said. “They ensure that there is at least one adorer present in the chapel at all times. The hourly coordinator reviews the sign-up list weekly to ensure that their committed hourly adorer fulfills his/her commitment and contacts the adorer if she/he has not been to adoration as committed for two consecutive weeks.”
A new team of coordinators just took over in January, Waller said. “The last several years, the ministry was administered by a couple who since have passed within six months of each other,” she said.
St. Mary Help of Christians in Aiken, South Carolina
Donna Pierce told CNA she helped launch the 24/7 adoration program at St. Mary Help of Christians in Aiken, South Carolina, roughly 30 years ago.
“I think we have about 10-15 people who have maintained their Holy Hour since it began, and currently we have 318 weekly adorers and about 60 substitutes, not counting the many people that pop in the chapel when they can,” she said.
Pierce said a priest from a perpetual adoration apostolate helped the parish launch the program. “He told us that having perpetual adoration is actually much easier to run than a 40-hours or other time frame,” she said. “Adorers incorporate their hour into their schedule, so you don’t have to keep signing up from scratch.”
The exposed Blessed Sacrament in the St. Claire Chapel at St. Mary Help of Christians in Aiken, South Carolina. Credit: Lori Rainchuso
She said the parish maintains participation in the program by way of biannual talks at Masses (which Pierce described as “our fall and Lent blitzes”). These efforts usually result in upwards of a few dozen sign-ups.
On the website for the National Eucharistic Revival, the bishops say that the current year of the program is focused on “fostering eucharistic devotion at the parish level, strengthening our liturgical life through the faithful celebration of the Mass, eucharistic adoration, missions, resources, preaching, and organic movements of the Holy Spirit.”
Catholic evangelist Tim Glemkowski in a video for the revival urged parish leaders to “prioritize personal encounters with Jesus in the Eucharist” over the course of the year.
“The heart of this invitation … is to create space in our parish calendar this year for people to come and encounter Jesus in the Eucharist personally,” he said. “This could mean parishes that don’t have perpetual adoration start that opportunity, or opportunities for eucharistic processions, or different devotional experiences.”
Pierce said that starting the St. Mary program decades ago was a daunting prospect, but she went ahead with it by putting her trust in God.
“It was terrifying when Msgr. [Thomas] Evatt asked me to be head coordinator to start it so long ago — I was 30 years old with a toddler and working part time,” Pierce said. “So I made a deal with God. He would have to be responsible for sustaining it, and we would just be his instruments.”
“How many, many times he made it obvious he was running it!” she said.
Graces for eternity
St. Bonaventure’s website, meanwhile, predicts that the graces of perpetual adoration will redound not just in the present but for eternity.
“Someday far, far from now, there will be a magnificent heavenly banquet where all of the adorers in the St. Bonaventure adoration program will be reunited,” the parish’s website says.
“Won’t it be wonderful,” the website continues, “for all of us who have been in the program to share stories of how many of our lives, and the lives of those we touched as a result, were radically changed by this personal and enduring encounter with Our Lord!”
As so often happens, Cardinal Dolan completely misses the point of the FBI alert.
This isn’t about shooting guns or throwing bombs.
Anyone merely espousing Catholic teachings *is* by definition a terrorist simply because he’s dissenting from the mandatory leftist governmental position.
The mere enunciation of Catholic doctrine is hate speech — i.e., violence — and is a real threat to the public welfare.
Now, our FBI guardians are not saying that all Catholics are enemies of the state. Remember Nancy Pelosi, Teddy Kennedy, Joe Biden and the rest of the Catholics who are responsible for the murders of more than a billion children worldwide over the past half century in the name of women’s health care.
Those Catholics don’t really actually *believe* all of that medieval Catholic stuff.
The small percentage who do actually *do* believe it? They’re the crazy ones, the ones whom the FBI is warning us to watch out for.
And I’m pretty sure Cardinal Dolan and most of the rest of our Church leaders have nothing to worry about.
Don’t pray near, or defend yourself or your family near, an abortion facility or they may come with weapons in hand and knock you away from your oatmeal the next morning.
Far too many of our bishops are ‘a day late and a dollar short.’
Far too many bishops play the consummate politician: They know who wields the power, how to get funding and what brings prestige. Too bad far too many of them don’t embrace the Cross.
It’s obvious that issuing, then rescinding, this document was intentionally orchestrated in order to send a message. The USCCB should be vehemently protesting from the rooftops. Unfortunately, too many bishops are pleased with the effect of this particular action.
And no one wonders how it is that the FBI brass is shocked to learn of an FBI directive. This isn’t the first time. They were shocked to learn that an FBI directive (issued in collusion with the association of school boards) seemed to target parents who expressed concern about their school’s curriculum at school board meetings. Just because you rescind the directive, you don’t necessarily end the policy. Watch what they do, not what they say. The FBI wants to thin the Catholic herd, and the targets may well not particularly dismay the bishops. Yet…
Herein my submisssion for the ‘Captain Obvious’ award for the month of February 2023 – In branding TLM adherents like myself as ‘violent extremists’ the FBI revealed their true colors and GOT CAUGHT. They are, predictably, trying to lie their way out of it. (Personally I would love to know the identity of the person who came up with that phrase, but I’m not going to hold my breath.)
I repeat – they revealed their true colors and GOT CAUGHT – We must NEVER forget that simple fact.
Cardinal Dolan first needs to assure us that he is against racism and violence, even though the groups that the FBI were addressing were not for racism and violence.
He then states that he finds the FBI memo “troubling and offensive.” I suppose that is the strongest language that we could expect from Cardinal Dolan or the USCCB.
The current Federal government is the enemy of our faith. It is ridiculous to keep addressing these issues as though they were occasional aberrations.
Oh, hey, it’s just an editing oversight! In these scrabbled times, the bureaucracy’s random word generator simply had a hiccup…then a later mistake in the boardroom with the routinized consent agenda! The politicized FBI, or maybe just a somnambulist FIB, or whatever…
But, it’s more than a spelling error–the difference between “profiling” and prolifing.
McCarthyism has made an unfortunate come back during these two years of democrat rule in particular. It would appear that ANYONE who holds an opinion about ANYTHING which is opposite that of the government is now suspect as a traitor, terrorist, racist, or some other danger to society. Disagree about the election, covid, immigration or even comedy jokes, and the situation is the same. That this has happened in a nation which has historically valued free speech above all is especially disturbing.That it is being linked to religion and endangers THAT long held freedom too, is even more dangerous. The govt already inserted itself in an area of religion in which it had no business by forcing the closure of churches in 2020, with covid as the alleged reason. This process became overtly suspect because the closures extended far beyond any reasonable danger and restricted churches with a capacity of 700 to 1000 people to allowing only 10 people at a time inside. Then it prohibited singing . And some places wanted the churches to actually TAKE THE NAMES of those allowed to enter!!!! As weeks dragged into months, Churches had to go to COURT to force the govt to remove its iron grasp on worship in the US. Sad to say, Josef Stalin would find himself quite at home with such govt agents. I wish I could say I was shocked to find that traditional catholics are now treason/ terrorist suspects. Unfortunately, the govt, our law agencies and the spineless pro-democrat press have laid so much groundwork to attack religious freedoms that this is little more than a continuation of oppression. My only question is, as the Germans forced the Jews to wear a yellow star when out in public, do they plan to do something similar to Catholics? A yellow crucifix maybe??
“U.S. Bishops: FBI document targeting Catholics is ‘religious profiling’.”
Agreed
It’s also downright stupid, and you know what they say about stupid, especially since these clowns got CAUGHT.
And it happened on Joe’s watch – let’s not forget that one either, which in turn begs the question – is anyone surprised?
I wouldn’t be surprised to know that there is an ‘Imprimatur’ on it.
SPLC has been a Communist Front since it’s beginnings.No suprise there.Except for the democrat lemmings who pull or mark the box {D} on their various ballots.And there are many.
As so often happens, Cardinal Dolan completely misses the point of the FBI alert.
This isn’t about shooting guns or throwing bombs.
Anyone merely espousing Catholic teachings *is* by definition a terrorist simply because he’s dissenting from the mandatory leftist governmental position.
The mere enunciation of Catholic doctrine is hate speech — i.e., violence — and is a real threat to the public welfare.
Now, our FBI guardians are not saying that all Catholics are enemies of the state. Remember Nancy Pelosi, Teddy Kennedy, Joe Biden and the rest of the Catholics who are responsible for the murders of more than a billion children worldwide over the past half century in the name of women’s health care.
Those Catholics don’t really actually *believe* all of that medieval Catholic stuff.
The small percentage who do actually *do* believe it? They’re the crazy ones, the ones whom the FBI is warning us to watch out for.
And I’m pretty sure Cardinal Dolan and most of the rest of our Church leaders have nothing to worry about.
(Sigh.)
“does not meet the exacting standards of the FBI” should have been “is fundamentally at odds with the mission of the FBI”.
Except that it isn’t.
The FBI is now the enforcement arm of the ruling Democratic Party.
The “law” that the agency is enforcing is conformity to the dictates of our nation’s newly engineered reality.
The “rights” the agency protects are the rights of the Democratic majority to be undisturbed by unacceptable thoughts and forbidden utterances.
Don’t pray near, or defend yourself or your family near, an abortion facility or they may come with weapons in hand and knock you away from your oatmeal the next morning.
I guess they don’t believe in gun control…..
Far too many of our bishops are ‘a day late and a dollar short.’
Far too many bishops play the consummate politician: They know who wields the power, how to get funding and what brings prestige. Too bad far too many of them don’t embrace the Cross.
It’s obvious that issuing, then rescinding, this document was intentionally orchestrated in order to send a message. The USCCB should be vehemently protesting from the rooftops. Unfortunately, too many bishops are pleased with the effect of this particular action.
And no one wonders how it is that the FBI brass is shocked to learn of an FBI directive. This isn’t the first time. They were shocked to learn that an FBI directive (issued in collusion with the association of school boards) seemed to target parents who expressed concern about their school’s curriculum at school board meetings. Just because you rescind the directive, you don’t necessarily end the policy. Watch what they do, not what they say. The FBI wants to thin the Catholic herd, and the targets may well not particularly dismay the bishops. Yet…
Herein my submisssion for the ‘Captain Obvious’ award for the month of February 2023 – In branding TLM adherents like myself as ‘violent extremists’ the FBI revealed their true colors and GOT CAUGHT. They are, predictably, trying to lie their way out of it. (Personally I would love to know the identity of the person who came up with that phrase, but I’m not going to hold my breath.)
I repeat – they revealed their true colors and GOT CAUGHT – We must NEVER forget that simple fact.
Cardinal Dolan first needs to assure us that he is against racism and violence, even though the groups that the FBI were addressing were not for racism and violence.
He then states that he finds the FBI memo “troubling and offensive.” I suppose that is the strongest language that we could expect from Cardinal Dolan or the USCCB.
The current Federal government is the enemy of our faith. It is ridiculous to keep addressing these issues as though they were occasional aberrations.
The Bishop of Rome gives two thumbs up to the actions of Christopher Wray and all of his comrades in the Fools Buffoons and Incompetents.
Oh, hey, it’s just an editing oversight! In these scrabbled times, the bureaucracy’s random word generator simply had a hiccup…then a later mistake in the boardroom with the routinized consent agenda! The politicized FBI, or maybe just a somnambulist FIB, or whatever…
But, it’s more than a spelling error–the difference between “profiling” and prolifing.
McCarthyism has made an unfortunate come back during these two years of democrat rule in particular. It would appear that ANYONE who holds an opinion about ANYTHING which is opposite that of the government is now suspect as a traitor, terrorist, racist, or some other danger to society. Disagree about the election, covid, immigration or even comedy jokes, and the situation is the same. That this has happened in a nation which has historically valued free speech above all is especially disturbing.That it is being linked to religion and endangers THAT long held freedom too, is even more dangerous. The govt already inserted itself in an area of religion in which it had no business by forcing the closure of churches in 2020, with covid as the alleged reason. This process became overtly suspect because the closures extended far beyond any reasonable danger and restricted churches with a capacity of 700 to 1000 people to allowing only 10 people at a time inside. Then it prohibited singing . And some places wanted the churches to actually TAKE THE NAMES of those allowed to enter!!!! As weeks dragged into months, Churches had to go to COURT to force the govt to remove its iron grasp on worship in the US. Sad to say, Josef Stalin would find himself quite at home with such govt agents. I wish I could say I was shocked to find that traditional catholics are now treason/ terrorist suspects. Unfortunately, the govt, our law agencies and the spineless pro-democrat press have laid so much groundwork to attack religious freedoms that this is little more than a continuation of oppression. My only question is, as the Germans forced the Jews to wear a yellow star when out in public, do they plan to do something similar to Catholics? A yellow crucifix maybe??
In Canada, that one pastor who came from the Communist Bloch? got arrested right on the highway for holding services.
I m from the government and I’m here to help
“U.S. Bishops: FBI document targeting Catholics is ‘religious profiling’.”
Agreed
It’s also downright stupid, and you know what they say about stupid, especially since these clowns got CAUGHT.
And it happened on Joe’s watch – let’s not forget that one either, which in turn begs the question – is anyone surprised?
I wouldn’t be surprised to know that there is an ‘Imprimatur’ on it.
SPLC has been a Communist Front since it’s beginnings.No suprise there.Except for the democrat lemmings who pull or mark the box {D} on their various ballots.And there are many.
According to the FBI – I am a ‘radical traditionalist’.
According to Hillary Clinton and her minions – I am a ‘deplorable’.
According to MSNBC and their ilk I am a ‘far right extremist’.
There are, I am sure, even more accolades coming.
I am SO unworthy of them – but I’ll take ’em.