The File
An FBI Richmond field office memo profiled Radical-Traditionalist Catholics as a domestic violent extremism concern, listing specific church addresses and phone numbers and proposing informant recruitment inside those congregations. A separate DOJ directive followed complaints from the National School Boards Association, treating school-board parents as a domestic-terrorism concern serious enough to warrant coordinated federal law enforcement meetings in every judicial district. Both were later reversed.
The Documented Record
January 23, 2023: The FBI's Richmond field office produced a document titled "Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities." [DOCUMENTED]
The memo proposed developing informant sources inside specific SSPX chapels and FSSP parishes, and listed church addresses and phone numbers within the Richmond field office's area of responsibility. [DOCUMENTED]
The memo relied in part on the Southern Poverty Law Center's designation of nine groups as Radical-Traditionalist Catholic hate groups. This is a documented fact about how the memo itself was constructed, not a citation to SPLC's own content as a source for this file. [DOCUMENTED]
After the memo became public in February 2023, the FBI withdrew it, and then-Deputy Director Paul Abbate ordered its deletion from FBI systems. [DOCUMENTED]
October 4, 2021: Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memorandum directing the FBI to convene meetings with law enforcement in every federal judicial district within 30 days, in response to a reported spike in harassment and threats against school administrators, board members, and staff. [DOCUMENTED]
February 2025: Attorney General Pam Bondi formally rescinded the Garland memorandum, along with prior guidance concerning investigation of parents who expressed concerns at local government meetings. [DOCUMENTED]
What the Record Does Not Establish
The record does not establish that either policy resulted in the prosecution of any individual solely for their religious practice or their conduct as a concerned parent, since both the Catholic memo and the Garland directive were withdrawn or rescinded following public disclosure and political pressure. What is documented is that both directives existed in the form described, that both drew on categorization of ordinary religious and parental conduct as a security concern, and that both were formally reversed.
Sources
- FBI Richmond Domain Perspective memo, published by House Judiciary Committee, 2023
- Biden-era FBI misled Congress over Catholic surveillance, documents reveal, Catholic Herald, 2025
- Garland memorandum, U.S. Department of Justice, 2021
- Restoring the Integrity and Credibility of the Department of Justice, memorandum rescinding the Garland directive, 2025
- House Judiciary Committee letter to FBI Director Wray, 2023
Connected Files
CAN-001 documents the broader pattern of institutional divergence between private conduct and public justification this file's reversal exemplifies.