The FBI’s memo’s warning of “extremist behavior” in Catholic Churches has taken a strange turn after two parishioners reported “suspicious activity” outside of their place of worship.
According to the Daily Signal, a month after the FBI’s Richmond field office published a now-rescinded internal memo cautioning potential danger from “radical-traditional Catholics,” parishioners reported FBI vehicles parked outside of a Latin Mass Catholic Church.
The two witnesses said that two cars approached the church, drove through the parking lot as if they were marking down license plate numbers, then left on two separate occasions.
However, the FBI’s Washington D.C. office denied any such accusations.
“I saw a black Ford car with dark tinted windows and a knoblike antenna on the top,” an anonymous parishioner told the outlet. “It was driving very slowly by all the cars, and I could see a laptop in the center front.”
Another parishioner said that a white Chevrolet Tahoe vehicle with tinted windows and several antennas drove through the church’s parking lot.
“Looked like a male. He had an open laptop in the middle of the car, not sure if he was typing, as the window was very dark,” the anonymous source said. “He never got out of the car, but by the time I saw him, he was on his way out and drove back towards the highway after pulling through.”
Both parishioners said they suspected it was FBI agents surveilling the church.
In February, a whistleblower published an internal memo demanding FBI agents to develop “sources with access” in places of worship so the agency can investigate a connection between “racially or ethnically motivated, violent extremists” and “radical-traditional Catholic ideology.”
The memo cited left-leaning litigation nonprofit group Southern Poverty Law Center, which is known for comparing Christian organizations to “hate groups,” comparing them to the Ku Klux Klan.
The following day, the FBI withdrew the leaked memo, with Director Christopher Wray denying it.
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