Posted on 02/08/2023 8:23:37 PM PST by ebb tide
TYLER, Texas (LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Joseph Strickland of the Tyler, Texas spoke out Wednesday in response to news that the FBI is beefing up its surveillance of so-called “radical traditionalist Catholics” in Virginia, saying that “[d]eeply committed Catholics are the last people the authorities should be concerned about.”
On Wednesday, former FBI agent turned whistleblower Kyle Seraphin released an eight-page document indicating the federal law enforcement agency is tracking “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists” and their alleged common ground with “radical-traditionalist Catholic (RTC) ideology,” LifeSiteNews reported.
In a February 8 email statement shared with LifeSiteNews, Bishop Strickland said that while it’s true that “committed traditional Catholics will defend the unborn and others who are helpless,” any “attacks of violent aggression are antithetical to what it means to be a radically committed traditional Catholic.”
“Sadly, the experience of Mark Houck provides evidence that this type of surveillance is not beyond the realm of possibility,” he told LifeSite, referring to the pro-life sidewalk counselor and Catholic husband and father of seven who was subjected to a dawn raid by dozens of heavily armed FBI agents last year.
Houck was charged with two FACE Act [Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances] violations over a minor sidewalk altercation with a Planned Parenthood escort and could have faced 11 years in prison if found guilty. The pro-life advocate was acquitted of both charges by a jury on January 30.
RELATED: FBI raids home of Catholic pro-life speaker, author with guns drawn as his terrified kids watch
In comments to LifeSiteNews, Bishop Strickland added that the FBI plan to surveil traditional Catholics “underscores our [society’s] deep ignorance of what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ or as presently stated ‘radical traditional Catholic.’”
According to the leaked FBI document, federal law enforcement is reportedly concerned that “white nationalist” groups are finding solidarity with “radical” Latin Mass-going Catholics who they say may share certain ‘“anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT, and white supremacy” perspectives.
The document made a distinction between what it called a “small minority” of “radical-traditionalist Catholics” who might hold such views compared with those “traditionalist Catholics” who the FBI said “prefer the Latin Mass and pre-Vatican II teachings and traditions, but without the more extremist ideological beliefs and violent rhetoric.”
In a piece explicating the contents of the leaked FBI memo, Seraphin pointed out that its writer also frequently references abortion as a central political issue. Seraphin said this federal law enforcement emphasis on “alleged ‘hostility towards the abortion-rights advocates’ has been “used to justify significant enforcement actions tied to the FACE Act,” including the raid, arrest, and indictment of Houck.
In comments to LifeSite, Bishop Strickland emphasized the need for prayer in the face of persecution.
“Our Lord tells us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. Deeply committed Catholics are the last people the authorities should be concerned about,” he said. “Let us pray for all in positions of authority and especially those in law enforcement.”
Ping
Tyler , Texas seems to be good place to move to.
It’s not ignorance. Morality is the threat.
“Radical Traditional”
Did you catch that? They say the quiet part out loud now. Does this even make any sense? In political speak, a “radical” is one who advocates revolutionary reforms. That’s why they are called “radicals”. Traditional Catholics aren’t revolutionary, they are about the farthest from it.
What they are doing, or not doing really, is declining to bow to the pressures of the mob or popular culture against their liturgy. It’s telling that we are seeing this same word salad inversion of the meaning of words. This is only ever done to confuse, or deceive people. I think any fair minded person knows who the “radicals” are in this equation, and it isn’t the group who has held the same beliefs for 2000 years.
The FBI is even MORE DEMONIC than I thought!
G.K. Chesterton is described by most as a traditionalist. He described himself as a radical.
What he is, and what the left despises, are counter-revolutionaries. “Contra” for short. Just because our revolution is playing out with less visible violence and in a slower pace with occasional punctuation (1968, and the LGBT nonsense after Kennedy’s decision) than the French and Russian Revolutions doesn’t make it any less real.
It’s not just Catholics, although they are the highest profile case.
They infiltrate evangelistic and other Protestant denominations just as well.
Even other non-Christian religions.
It’s like the Soviet Union has come back to life in DC.....................
I’d agree with that, good point. “Not one step back”, the left never quits, and they don’t ever want to lose ground. Their legislation is always “settled law”. They know more than anyone though, the mob is fickle and can turn on a dime. Thus their neurotic obsession with 100% control of speech, for example.
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