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Police: Gunman Opens Fire on Minneapolis Church, Killing Two Children During Mass

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Two children were killed and 17 others injured Wednesday morning when a gunman opened fire through the windows of a Minneapolis Catholic church during a school Mass, authorities said.

The shooting took place shortly before 8:30 a.m. at Annunciation Catholic Church while students from a nearby Catholic school were attending Mass, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed at a press conference.

According to O’Hara, the suspect fired multiple rounds from outside the building toward the children seated in the pews. The shooter was armed with a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol. Two children, ages eight and ten, were fatally struck. The suspect later died by suicide, police said.

Parents gathered outside the church and school Wednesday morning as authorities secured the scene.

“This kind of act of evil should never happen,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said during the briefing, his voice breaking as he addressed reporters.

Police said the identities of the victims and the gunman have not yet been released. The investigation is ongoing, with local and federal authorities assisting.

Video: Cathedral Hosts Funeral for Atheist Transgender Activist

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A huge funeral was held Thursday inside Manhattan’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral for transgender activist and atheist Cecilia Gentili of Brooklyn, who died February 6.

Gentili was 52 when he died of unknown causes at home, the Daily Mail reported Friday, noting that about 1,000 friends and fans of Gentili filled the church pews during the service.

The outlet described the scene:

A picture near the altar showed a haloed Ms. Gentili surrounded by the Spanish words for ‘transvestite,’ ‘whore,’ ‘blessed’ and ‘mother’ above the text of Psalm 25.

A mourner upstaged the priest at one point by singing ‘Ave Maria’ – but changing the lyrics to ‘Ave Cecilia’ before dancing through the aisles.

Even though Gentili said he was an atheist, funeral organizer Ceyenne Doroshow planned for the service to be held at the large church. (Read more from “Video: Cathedral Hosts Funeral for Atheist Transgender Activist” HERE)

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‘Catholic’ Biden Marks Roe Anniversary by Pledging to Fight for ’Right’ to Kill Unborn

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Self-professed Catholic President Joe Biden marked the fifty-first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s now-defunct 1973 Roe v. Wade decision by pledging to fight for the supposed “right” to kill unborn babies via abortion.

In a statement released on Monday, Biden took the opportunity to mourn the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe’s invention of the constitutional “right” to abortion and sent the issue back to individual states. He also painted Republicans as “dangerous” and “extreme” for passing laws banning or restricting abortions and accused them of putting “lives…at risk”:

Fifty-one years ago today, the Supreme Court recognized a woman’s constitutional right to make deeply personal decisions with her doctor—free from the interference of politicians. Then, a year and a half ago, the Court made the extreme decision to overturn Roe and take away a constitutional right.

“As a result, tens of millions of women now live in states with extreme and dangerous abortion bans. Because of Republican elected officials, women’s health and lives are at risk,” Biden claimed, not acknowledging the tens of millions of unborn lives lost to abortion. “In states across the country, women are being turned away from emergency rooms, forced to go to court to seek permission for the medical attention they need, and made to travel hundreds of miles for health care.”

Biden continued, pointing to pro-life losses since Dobbs via abortion-related ballot measures in states like Ohio and Michigan as evidence that Americans overwhelmingly demand the “right” to kill the unborn. Activists in several other states are notably working to put abortion amendments on the ballot in 2024 after a string of state-level pro-abortion victories. (Read more from “‘Catholic’ Biden Marks Roe Anniversary by Pledging to Fight for ’Right’ to Kill Unborn” HERE)

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Catholic Leaders Condemn FBI’s “Illegitimate Targeting of Catholics” as Potential Domestic Terrorists

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Catholic leaders slammed the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday after the House Judiciary Committee discovered federal agents interviewed a priest and a choir director as part of an investigation into so-called Radical-Traditional Catholics as potential domestic terrorists.

“The latest revelations only raise more questions about the illegitimate targeting of Catholics by the FBI,” CatholicVote President Brian Burch told The Daily Wire in an emailed statement. “We now know that the FBI effort involved at least four field offices, authorized the use of undercover agents to infiltrate Catholic parishes, and used a Catholic priest and a choir director to inform on one of their parishioners.”

The House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government launched an investigation into the FBI earlier this year after former agent-turned-whistleblower Kyle Seraphin leaked an internal memo from the bureau’s Richmond Field Office, which painted certain “radical-traditionalist Catholics” as violent extremists and proposed opportunities for the FBI to infiltrate Catholic churches as a form of “threat mitigation.”

“Despite every effort to downplay the significance of this abuse of power, the FBI still owes Catholics and all concerned Americans answers as to who was behind the effort to spy on Catholics, how far and wide this effort went inside the FBI, whether it is ongoing, and whether anyone has been held accountable,” Burch added. (Read more from “Catholic Leaders Condemn FBI’s “Illegitimate Targeting of Catholics” as Potential Domestic Terrorists” HERE)

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Catholic Women’s School Saint Mary’s College to Admit Transgender Applicants

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Saint Mary’s College has approved a policy to consider male applicants who “identify as women,” which would effectively strip the school of its ability to accurately call itself a women’s college.

The college’s “non-discrimination” policy now says that Saint Mary’s can consider admission for undergraduate applicants “whose sex is female or who consistently live and identify as women,” according to a report by the Observer.

“The mission of Saint Mary’s College is to empower women, through education, at all stages in life,” the policy reads. “Essential to this mission is fostering a diverse, equitable and inclusive campus experience. This mission is inherently tied to the vision and values of our founders and sponsors, the Sisters of the Holy Cross.”

President Katie Conboy said in a Tuesday email to to faculty, staff, and students that the Board of Trustees “fully supports” the new policy.

“This confidence from our Board underscores their commitment that as an employer, Saint Mary’s must stand firm in its position as an inclusive community leader, and that as educators, we should continue to create an environment where all women belong and thrive,” Conboy wrote. (Read more from “Catholic Women’s School Saint Mary’s College to Admit Transgender Applicants” HERE)

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State Denies Catholics the Right to Adopt

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Massachusetts deserves a major slapdown for grotesque anti-Catholic discrimination against a couple who wanted to become foster parents.

Helped by the Becket Law legal aid group, Mike and Kitty Burke filed suit on Aug. 8 against state officials who rejected their application to be foster parents. In an exhaustive screening process, state agents gave the Burkes high marks and glowing comments, but the state turned them down because their Catholic “faith is not supportive” of the state’s promotion of transgender medical procedures. The Burkes’ beliefs on sexuality were the sole reason for the denial.

Yet, in this instance, even though gender transitions would be relevant to a minute proportion of children, the state denied the Burkes foster-care approval for any children, specifically because of Catholics’ faith-based qualms about gender transitions for minors. Even though the couple cleared all background checks with flying colors — they “really seem to understand adoption/foster care,” one interviewer said, and another called them “lovely people” — and even though they stated they would equally love children who said they are not heterosexual, the state said their faith-based refusal to support sex-change treatment was disqualifying.

This rejection was not only devastating to the Burkes but harmful to needy children. Some 19% of the 7,810 children in the state’s foster-care system are not placed with families. These unfortunate children are housed in institutional settings, with dozens in hospitals, despite not needing medical attention, because there is no room anywhere else. This is stunningly inhumane. The suit says others have been forced to stay in the agency’s own offices, “which are not equipped for overnight stays” because actual beds were so lacking. By the agency’s assessments, the Burkes could provide some of those children a loving home but will not be allowed to merely because of their religious beliefs. (Read more from “State Denies Catholics the Right to Adopt” HERE)

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Ultra Liberal Church That Holds Gay-Friendly Mass Every Sunday Is Slammed for Hosting ‘God Is Trans’ Exhibit

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A notoriously liberal Catholic church in Manhattan is dividing parishioners with a ‘God is Trans’ art exhibit, leaving one member of the faithful to suggest they were having an agenda forced on them.

The Church of St. Paul the Apostle in Manhattan is promoting a display called ‘God is Trans: A Queer Spiritual Journey.’

The church is noted for its embrace of the LGBTQ+ community and has promoted a ‘gay-friendly’ 5 p.m. mass on Sunday in the past, according to the New York Times.

Some who regularly go to the church told the New York Post that including gender ideology in an exhibit was a step too far.

‘The church should not be promoting this,’ said one parishioner. ‘I understand there are transgender people. I pray for all people but enough is enough.’ (Read more from “Ultra Liberal Church That Holds Gay-Friendly Mass Every Sunday Is Slammed for Hosting ‘God Is Trans’ Exhibit” HERE)

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Dem Senator: It’s OK for the FBI to Put Informants in Churches; FBI Warns of Radicalization of Catholics

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By The Federalist. Virginia Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine gave the FBI his approval to investigate Catholic parishes in his own state on Monday.

When asked by a local ABC affiliate about the FBI’s Richmond division infiltrating Catholic communities to spy on the church for alleged extremism, Kaine called the revelations a misunderstanding.

“I think the key is communication,” Kaine told ABC13. “If the FBI has a concern like that, then go to the church leaders and say, ‘Hey look, we have a concern and we don’t want your members to get unwittingly caught up in something.’”

Former FBI Special Agent Kyle Seraphin blew the whistle on the agency’s Richmond office investigating the Catholic Church with undercover informants in February. The FBI, Seraphin wrote, “would like to protect Virginians from the threat of ‘white supremacy,’ which it believes has found a home within Catholics who prefer the Latin Mass.”

“The document assesses with ‘high confidence’ the FBI can mitigate the threat of Radical-Traditionalist Catholics by recruiting sources within the Catholic Church,” Seraphin warned. (Read more from “Dem Senator: It’s OK for the FBI to Put Informants in Churches” HERE)

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FBI Warns of Radicalization of Catholics

By Washington Times. The House Judiciary Committee revealed new details Monday about the FBI field office in Richmond’s plan to spy on Catholic churches and church leaders, including that the plan was distributed to other FBI offices across the country. (Read more from “FBI Warns of Radicalization of Catholics” HERE)

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FBI Sought to Develop Sources in Catholic Churches to Combat Domestic Terrorism, Docs Show

By Fox News. The FBI recently sought to develop sources inside Christian churches and Catholic dioceses as part of an effort to combat domestic terrorism, according to internal documents released by House Judiciary Committee on Monday.

The internal documents — obtained last month by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., who are also members of the so-called Weaponization Subcommittee — showed the FBI planned to use churches as “new avenues for tripwire and source development.” The federal law enforcement agency also aimed to specifically target “mainline Catholic parishes” as part of its efforts.

In addition, according to Jordan, the FBI expressed interest in “leverag[ing] existing sources and/or initiat[ing] Type 5 Assessments to develop new sources with the placement and access.” And, in another example, the agency cited a desire to to sensitize religious congregations “to the warning signs of radicalization and enlist their assistance to serve as suspicious activity tripwires.”

“Based on the limited information produced by the FBI to the Committee, we now know that the FBI relied on at least one undercover agent to produce its analysis, and that the FBI proposed that its agents engage in outreach to Catholic parishes to develop sources among the clergy and church leadership to inform on Americans practicing their faith,” Jordan wrote in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Monday.

Jordan also issued a subpoena for a series of related documents the committee previously requested from the FBI, but which the FBI has failed to provide. (Read more from “FBI Sought to Develop Sources in Catholic Churches to Combat Domestic Terrorism, Docs Show” HERE)

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Oldest Roman Catholic Church in U.S. Accused of Covering up Over 600 Child Sex Abuse Reports: Officials

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More than six hundred children suffered sexual abuse by at least 150 Baltimore-area clergy members and other Archdiocese personnel, according to a Maryland Attorney General’s report published in the middle of Holy Week, detailing over 80 years of covering up the scandals.

The Maryland Office of the Attorney General launched a Grand Jury investigation into the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 2018, listing a total of 156 clergy members, deacons, seminaries, teachers, and other employees of the Archdiocese as abusers in “hundreds of thousands” of documents dating back to the 1940s — although officials said the number of victims is likely far higher than outlined in the nearly 500-page report.

Such documents reveal with “disturbing clarity” that the Archdiocese, the first diocese established in the United States, allegedly protected accused clergy members from scandal and negative publicity rather than vulnerable children in their communities. In some cases, church leaders would allegedly offer those accused a chance to retire with financial support.

“Time and again, members of the Church’s hierarchy resolutely refused to acknowledge allegations of child sexual abuse for as long as possible,” the report reads. “When denial became impossible, Church leadership would remove abusers from the parish or school, sometimes with promises that they would have no further contact with children.”

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, who took office in January, said during a press conference Wednesday the investigation shows the “incontrovertible history uncovered by this investigation is one of pervasive, pernicious and persistent abuse by priests and other archdiocese personnel,” adding most of the alleged abusers listed in the report would not face prosecution as they have passed away. (Read more from “Oldest Roman Catholic Church in U.S. Accused of Covering up Over 600 Child Sex Abuse Reports: Officials” HERE)

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FBI Retracts Memo Labeling Traditional Catholics ‘Violent White Supremacists’

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Aleaked FBI report revealed that the Bureau’s Richmond, Virginia Division is investigating the threat of “white supremacy” among Catholics who prefer Latin Mass. Since the leak made headlines, FBI headquarters rescinded the report, claiming it does not “open an investigation based solely on First Amendment protected activity.”

This seems to contradict the document itself, which says its findings are based in part on “liaison reporting.” According to the document’s whistleblower and former Special Agent Kyle Seraphin, liaisons “are overt contacts with trusted members of a community or an industry.” That suggests the FBI already has been investigating Americans based on “First Amendment protected activity.”

The January 23, 2023 document claims “Radical-Traditionalist Catholics” (RTCs) are “typically characterized by the rejection of the Second Vatican Council” (which allowed for Mass to be said in people’s spoken language) and their “adherence to anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ and white supremacist ideology.” According to the FBI, the threat comes from RTCs increasingly fraternizing with “Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists” (RMVE).

To further surveil “Radical-Traditionalist Catholics,” the document says the Bureau may potentially mitigate this “threat” with “tripwire and source development,” which means further infiltration into Catholic communities using various kinds of informants. The report also implies the FBI will begin monitoring social media posts for what it claims is “Radical-Traditionalist Catholics” ideology. (Read more from “FBI Retracts Memo Labeling Traditional Catholics ‘Violent White Supremacists’” HERE)

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