The U.S. Bishops’ Religious Liberty Chairman, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, issued a comment on the leaked FBI memo which vowed to infiltrate “radical traditionalist Catholic” groups because of their link to white supremacy.
“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. The USCCB roundly condemns such extremism and fully supports the work of law enforcement officials to keep our communities safe.
“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in several respects – such as in its religious profiling and reliance on dubious sourcing – and am glad it has been rescinded. 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.”
Wow. How defended do those traditionalists feel?
This is an insult to Catholics. By first issuing the caveat that takes up half of his comment saying we don’t go for all that racism nonsense, it kinda’ takes away the power of the second part, doesn’t it?
The accusation leveled by the FBI is absurd and without merit. By treating it as if it deserved to be countered you’re respecting the accusation itself.
This was the most powerful intelligence agency in the world demonizing a group of faithful Catholics and what happened? They got a mealy mouthed statement from a cardinal talking out of both sides of his mouth.
Sad.
The FBI has sized up its enemy and found him lacking. They know they can do whatever they’d like to Catholics and nobody will say a word.
February 18, 2023 at 9:26 am
Sadly, this was predictably pathetic and illustrates precisely why no one gives a flying crap about what the bishops say.
The saddest aspect is that this was basically a softball lobbed to them. The whole memo was contrived agitprop based on the research of an organization already verboten to the FBIs own research policies. The story was covered on major secular platforms and caused the FBI so much embarrassment that they had to acknowledge it and at least publicly claim to retract it. There was by and large public sympathy even among secularists who are uncomfortable with this sort of bureaucratic weaponization.
Yet even with such a stacked deck in their favor (to mix metaphors), the USCCB still spends half of the statement accepting the premise of the memo by means of a pathetic attempt at virtue signaling.
The proper response should have been:
1. A scathing denouncement of either the FBI’s weaponization of their position against protected rights OR of their gross incompetence in allowing branches to engage in activities that violate protected rights. The statement needed to unequivocally call out the FBI for its actions rather than coddle it and tell it how valuable it still is.
2. Threaten legal action if public and transparent investigations are not conducted and if the persons involved are not summarily dismissed.
3. Use appropriate language. The memo wasn’t troubling; it was the Stasi surveiling citizens engaged in their religious activities. It wasn’t offensive; it was a direct assault on one of the bedrock principles of this nation. We are tired to death of hearing how bishops are saddened and troubled by things.
I suppose in these times one might have some gratitude that they managed to cobble together something, although I would wager I could find much stronger language in previous statements in regards to immigration.
To be fair though, they get much more money from the govt for immigrant relocation than for TLMs, so I wonder of there’s any connection there…
February 18, 2023 at 9:29 am
It’s an issue of language and definition. I’m sure we can all agree that racism and extremism are bad. We can’t agree on what constitutes racism. The left, more effectively than I think many of us realize, has steered language and definitions in such a way as to guarantee their victory. I’m not very hopeful. Greater violence than we’ve seen is coming
February 18, 2023 at 10:23 am
well said. THe left has embraced the Orwellian guidance that controlling the meaning of words control the thoughts and reasoning of those using those words. Time for us to realize that a war is being waged – and we cannot win if we do not engage in battle.
February 18, 2023 at 12:58 pm
Thank you for your kind words. I re-read 1984 last year. I first read it right after the end of the Cold War. It was frightening in a way it wasn’t in the early 90’s
February 19, 2023 at 4:34 pm
How is it that nobody is prosecuted for blatantly violating civil rights? Don’t ask our bishops; they couldn’t care less.