GOP Demands Answers to Hospital ‘Cease and Desist’ Order Targeting Priests

Ari Blaff
Updated ·4 min read
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Leading House Republicans have sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin demanding more information about why Walter Reed National Military Medical Center sent “cease and desist” letters to Catholic priests about services provided over the Easter holiday.

“Last week, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center sent a ‘cease and desist’ letter to Holy Name College Friary, a group of Catholic priests, ordering them to stop providing pastoral care at their facility,” the letter first obtained by Fox News Digital noted. “The same group of priests have served at Walter Reed for almost 20 years, and this order came days before Easter.”

“Forcing priests to stop providing care during Holy Week is not only morally wrong, but also a violation of the First Amendment,” the signatories added.

Two dozen House Republicans affixed their names to the letter bound for Secretary Austin, including Representatives Byron Donalds (R., Fl.) Marjorie Taylor Greene (R. Ga.), Andy Biggs (R. Ariz.), Lauren Boebert, (R. Colo.), and Ralph Norman (R., S.C.).

“This attack on the Christian faith by the Biden administration during Holy Week is unconscionable,” the legislators argued.

However, the Department of Defense has remained adamant that there was nothing nefarious about the terminated contract or its timing during the Easter holiday.

“As with most contracts they have a beginning and an end. This contract originally ended on December 31st and was extended until March 31st. The contractor was aware of the contract end date,” a spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “A new contract was awarded to a different company effective April 1st.”

The inquiry comes on the heels of escalating tensions between the White House and Republicans into reports that the FBI employed undercover agents to spy on Catholic American communities with the intention of cultivating sources in order to combat alleged violent extremism.

On Monday, House Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) issued a subpoena demanding FBI director Christopher Wray testify and provide more information to Congress about the federal agency’s intelligence-gathering initiative targeting Catholic Americans.

“This shocking information reinforces our need for all responsive documents, and the Committee is issuing a subpoena to you to compel your full cooperation,” Jordan wrote in the letter.

“This shocking information reinforces our need for all responsive documents, and the Committee is issuing a subpoena to you to compel your full cooperation,” Jordan said.

“Americans attend church to worship and congregate for their spiritual and personal betterment,” the letter added. “They must be free to exercise their fundamental First Amendment rights without worrying that the FBI may have planted so-called ‘tripwire’ sources or other informants in their houses of worship.”

This was followed on Tuesday by a similarly worded not from Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) to Merrick Garland accusing the attorney general of misleading lawmakers about the FBI’s targeting of traditional Catholics as potential domestic extremists.

“Let’s be clear: your Department has decided to turn Catholic congregations into front organizations for the FBI, and when asked about it, you’ve decided to fudge the truth before Congress. This is an unconscionable assault on American Catholics’ First Amendment rights and an abdication of your duty to enforce the law without fear or favor,” the Missouri Senator wrote in a letter to Garland requesting further details.

“I specifically asked Merrick Garland whether the FBI was targeting Catholic parishes and he said no. Now it turns out the FBI was using undercover sources in multiple parishes,” Hawley wrote on Twitter Monday afternoon.

“Everyone involved with this chilling surveillance campaign must face accountability,” Hawley continued before demanding clarification about how many undercover informants the FBI relied on in Catholic parishes and which other field offices were informed by such guidance.

House Republicans have demanded that Defense Secretary Austin respond to their request by April 21.

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