The FBI's Catholic Church Library Search Museum Text Print this page
St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Great Falls, Virginia has all the trappings and decor of religion and piety.

March 12, 2001 — Father Franklyn McAfee, the pastor of the church attended by accused FBI spy Robert P. Hanssen, has threatened to have several supporters of the Waco Holocaust Electronic Museum arrested.  The offense?  Handing out information about FBI director Louis Freeh, who is also a member of Father McAfee's church.

The incident occurred on Sunday, March 11 outside the property lines of St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church on Springvale Road, Great Falls, Virginia.  At 11:50 a.m., two representatives of the Museum walked to the outlet of the driveway of St. Catherine's, and began handing out pamphlets to parishioners as they left the parking lot after High Mass.  The pamphlet, "Should Christ's Words Set Standards For Public Morality?" documented Louis Freeh's seven-and-one-half year effort to cover up the Waco Holocaust.  The pamphlet questioned the propriety of the Catholic Church in delivering the sacrament of confession to him; it also raised questions concerning the FBI allegations against Robert Hanssen.  (See below).

The Museum camera crew were on hand with video recorders and cameras, documenting the peaceful and orderly distribution of truthful information.

After 25 minutes (approximately 12:15 p.m.), the stream of cars leaving the church parking ended and the parking lot was almost empty.  It was then that Father McAfee ran down the church drive toward the pamphleteers.  As he drew closer, he apparently saw the cameras and realized the incident was being recorded.  Father McAfee  stopped short and shouted:

"THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY!  LEAVE OR I WILL CALL THE POLICE."

Museum Curator Carol Valentine (this writer) held the pamphlet up and asked Father McAfee: "Do you know what this is?"  He replied:

"I DO.  GET OFF THE PROPERTY."

When this writer reminded Father McAfee (who asserts First Amendment rights for abortion protesters) that the pamphleteers were not on church property, he replied:

"WE WILL SEE WHEN THE POLICE COME."

With the parishioners now gone and the church parking lot almost empty, the pamphleteers left without further incident.

Now, here is the information Father McAfee does not want his parishioners to have.

March 11, 2001—FBI agent Robert P. Hanssen stands accused of spying for the Russians in return for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.  Mr. Hanssen is a Catholic.  He attended St. Catherine of Siena Church in Great Falls, Virginia since 1988.  He is also a member of the Catholic lay organization Opus Dei which, we are told, secretively attempts to convert VIPs in government and society to Christ's words and Catholicism.  St. Catherine's and Opus Dei deny they have profited.  Mr. Hanssen's donations to Opus Dei have been characterized as "paltry," (Washington Times, Hanssen belonged to Catholic group that proselytized elites 2/22/01, p. A16).  Meanwhile, the pastor of St. Catherine's, Father Franklyn McAfee, has complained that Mr. Hanssen has not paid dues owing St. Catherine's, despite his attendance at the church since 1988.  Father McAfee is quoted by the Washington Times: "[Mr. Hanssen] didn't support the parish.  I can safely say he didn't donate."

Meet Another Parishioner.  Father McAfee told the Times that learning of Mr. Hanssen's "secret life" was quite a shock.  While Mr. Hanssen's alleged secret life might be a shock, what about the very public life of another St. Catherine's parishioner and member of Opus Dei?  That person is Louis Freeh, Director of the FBI, one of the best known Catholics in public life.  Since Mr. Freeh's Catholicism is public knowledge, and his public life is a matter of public record, let's look at how he represents Christ, the Church, and the parish of St. Catherine of Siena.  While reading, keep in mind that the information contained in this pamphlet is verifiable through public records easily available through the Internet.

A Terrible Event.  William Sessions was FBI director when approximately 80 men, women, and children- all innocent before the law—died at FBI hands in Waco, Texas on April 19, 1993.  We are all familiar with the FBI account: The FBI wanted to rescue the children from David Koresh.  So battle tanks were dispatched to spray CS chemical on the parents and the kids who were the object of the rescue.  But some perverse (and unnamed) Davidians set the place on fire.  Some Davidians escaped, but many other Davidians, including the very moms and kids the FBI wanted to save, died in the fire.  To many people, the story did not meet the smell test.  The FBI was suspected of foul play in the Davidian deaths.  Sessions left the FBI in July and Louis Freeh was a candidate for the job.  Given the tenor of the times, it is hard to imagine Mr. Freeh would not inform himself on the Waco events.  As a former prosecutor and federal judge, Louis Freeh was at least as acquainted with criminal procedure as an amateur armchair detective.  He had to know that, since ancient times, inquiries about questionable deaths start with the bodies of the victims.  The Davidian autopsies were on the public record months before Mr. Freeh's appointment.  Shortly after his appointment, the DoJ published its October 1993 report on the Waco incident, citing those autopsies.  You can read those autopsies at:

"No One In the FBI Wanted Anyone Harmed."  For seven and a half years, as well as the autopsy reports, Mr. Freeh had access to crime scene photos and other forensic information.  He had direct access to the FBI agents who were on the scene at Waco.  And for seven and a half years, Mr. Freeh has been asserting the good intentions and righteous actions of the FBI in Waco.  For seven and a half years Mr. Freeh, one of America's most prominent Catholics, has been blaming the Davidians for killing their own, blaming them for killing all those children and babies and mothers … Speaking of the deaths of the Davidians just last September, Director Freeh said: "No one in the FBI wanted anyone harmed.  Everyone did their best under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. …"  (The Dallas Morning News, Plaintiffs take nothing 9/21/2000.)

Arrest the Davidian Murderers.  When Sen. John Danforth issued his own report on the Waco Holocaust, he praised the FBI and blamed the Davidians for the Davidian deaths on April 19, 1993.  America's famous Catholic, Louis Freeh, termed the Danforth report "both vigorous and thorough."  In that vigorous and thorough report, Sen. Danforth revealed that the current leader of the Branch Davidians, fire survivor Clive Doyle, admitted to the Texas Rangers that the Davidians started the fire.  Furthermore, the Danforth report says Doyle's hands were burned in a manner consistent with a "flashback" from a liquid fire; Doyle's jacket contained flammable liquids on both sleeves; the FBI has audio tapes of (alleged) Davidians conversing about starting the fire, and that "several" FBI agents saw Davidians "acting as if they were starting a fire."  (Final Report, pgs. 17-20.)  Compelling evidence?  An honest FBI director who believed the Danforth report was "both vigorous and thorough" would see to it that Clive Doyle (and other fire survivors) were arrested and charged in the Davidian deaths.  But Clive Doyle and the fire survivors have not been criminally charged—no one has been charged for the deaths of murdered Davidians.  Clearly, Mr. Freeh does not himself believe the story he tells.  Perhaps he knows something he isn't mentioning.  Let's look at the evidence he surely examined.

Let's Use Mr. Freeh's Eyes.  Recall that Mr. Freeh has had first hand information on the Davidian deaths available to him for years.  And for years Mr. Freeh has been saying the Davidians killed their own on April 19, 1993.  Let's look at the October 1993 DoJ Report, published shortly after Mr. Freeh came to office.  "The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's office, assisted by a team of anthropologists from the Smithsonian Institution, assisted in recovering the remains of the persons killed during the fire ...."  (pg. 311).  The Smithsonian experts have for years been the top forensic consultants to the FBI.  Scrutiny of the autopsy reports will reveal that Drs. Douglas Ubelaker and Douglas Owsley were the Smithsonian experts present in the mortuary when the autopsies were performed.  Furthermore, the pathologist of record has testified under oath that FBI experts lent other assistance during performance of the autopsies, such as fingerprint and DNA identification.  These were first class autopsies.  The FBI's top brains were right in the thick of things, helping the Texas locals out.  But now let's focus on what the DoJ report says on the death of one of the mothers: "Judy Schneider was buried alive when the bunker collapsed," (pg. 315).  "The bunker" is FBI-speak for a concrete room, originally built to provide fire-proof protection for church records.  According to the official story, the moms and kids fled to that room on April 19 and died when it collapsed on top of them.  At least, that's what the autopsy reports say.

Left: Davidian Melissa Morrison in life, before she was "rescued" from her mother. Center: The FBI Hostage "Rescue" Team, photographed in Waco, before the "rescue." Right: Melissa Morrison after her "rescue." The calves and feet of the child were the only parts of her body ever recovered. Celebrated Catholic Louis Freeh says he knows who killed her but somehow NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN CHARGED WITH HER DEATH. (Photos, US News and World Report, May 3, 1993, and anonymous donor.)

Lies and DUMB Lies. The problem? The concrete room DIDN'T collapse. It was photographed by news organizations (from ground and air) after the fire on April 19, several hours after it allegedly "collapsed" and killed the moms and kids. The photos appeared in Time, Newsweek, and US News & World Report on May 3, 1993, long before the DoJ report was written and released. The photos clearly show that the concrete room was still standing. Saying that the moms and kids died when the "bunker" collapsed — even when publications far and wide showed the "bunker" still standing — was a real dumb lie, even for government work. Yet as dumb a lie as it is, Mr. Freeh has never uttered a peep about the fraud. You can see photos of the "bunker" that didn't collapse at:

Missing Heads And Other Problems. The autopsy reports reveal that many of the moms and kids were found headless. Remember, these are the same folks who allegedly died under the debris of the collapsing bunker (that didn't collapse). Debris from a collapsing concrete structure might crush heads, but it would not make them disappear. What happened to them? The concrete room in which the victims were found was small and had no windows. Arguably conditions within, during the 45-minute fire, would have been uniform. Yet some bodies were scarcely burned, some severely burned. Some bodies appeared to have been blown apart, others were whole. Some bodies were only moderately decomposed, while the bodies of others were so badly decomposed that internal organs had liquefied; some of the children's genitals were so badly decomposed the autopsy technicians could not determine the sex of the child. Then there is the problem of the agglutinated mass: The bodies of eleven people, including David Koresh's wife and children, were found fused together. A local justice of the peace, a funeral director in private life, was on hand during recovery of the bodies and said of the agglutinated mass: "I was in the funeral business for 40 years, and I never saw anything like this." (Dallas Morning News, Remains of cult leader Koresh reportedly discovered, pg. 24A May 1, 1993). Also in the concrete room was the body of an adult male, John McBean.  McBean's trunk was all that remained. His head, both arms, and both legs appear to have been amputated. Clearly, these people died at different times, under different circumstances, and not as a result of the April 19 fire as the DoJ Report said. Yet, in the seven and one half years since the DoJ report was published, Mr. Freeh, one of America's most famous Catholics, a former prosecutor and former federal judge, and the nation's top law enforcement official, has not said a word about these anomalies.

Destruction of Evidence. The FBI and DoJ asserted the Davidians murdered four ATF agents on February 28. The FBI and DoJ have stated time and time again that the Davidians set the fire and caused the deaths of other Davidians. By all accounts, Mt. Carmel was a crime scene. Preservation of the evidence was vitally important for the lawful prosecution of the murderers of the ATF agents and the murderers of the Davidians. According to the FBI, on April 19, 1993 their eavesdropping devices picked up Davidian voices planning to set the Davidian home on fire. Obviously the lives of the innocent Davidian children and babies would be endangered and precious evidence burned, yet the FBI did not try to stop this arson plan. It could have done so easily by deploying planes equipped with fire retardants, as are so commonly used to fight forest fires. Instead, tanks operated under the auspices of the FBI rammed the Davidians' flimsy wooden home and crushed much of the structure under the tank treads. When the fire broke out (remember, the FBI knew it was going to happen), TV cameras on the spot recorded the tanks pushing parts of the collapsed building into the burning rubble. When local fire trucks arrived to put the fire out, the FBI prevented them from getting near the inferno.  [Judge Walter S. Smith of US District Court in Waco defended the FBI. "Because the fire was started by certain Davidians, the United States owed no duty to protect the remaining Davidians from the fire," he said. The "remaining Davidians," of course, included the very children and babies on whose behalf, allegedly, the FBI deployed the battle tanks.]

Less than two weeks after the deaths of the mothers and children, the concrete room in which their bodies were found was destroyed. For weeks after the fire, the grounds of the Mt. Carmel Center were continually bulldozed, and tons of earth removed and replaced with tons of earth taken from another site. It is a long held principle that those who destroy evidence at a crime scene can be assumed to be a party to the crime. Yet Mr. Freeh has never charged any FBI agent with destruction of evidence.

Murderous Intent. On April 15, 1993, the Dallas Morning News (Agents struggle to find way to end siege, pg. 1A), reported options being considered by the FBI to end the siege. Among those cited: "Pick off cult leader David Koresh with sniper fire as he peers from a window and then take the compound while his followers flounder. " Such an action would be murder, of course, and the FBI agents were openly talking about their conspiracy to commit murder. But remember, according to the honorable parishioner of St. Catherine of Siena's, Louis Freeh, "No one in the FBI wanted anyone harmed." David Koresh's autopsy reveals he died of a massive gunshot wound to his head, consistent with assassination by sniper fire.

Attempt to Destroy Religious Beliefs. The FBI committed crimes against the Davidians on the basis of religious hatred. They attempted to destroy Davidian religious faith by means of psychological warfare techniques, treating the Davidians as experimental animals. The FBI held daily press conferences in which they ridiculed Davidian beliefs, and broadcast these press conferences to the Davidians. Davidian reactions to the public ridicule were recorded by FBI listening devices, and studied. The Davidians were subjected to a barrage of other mind control techniques including torture with intense and constant noise and bright lights. Their electricity and heat was cut off during cold weather (remember, the FBI was concerned for the babies), grenades were thrown at them when they left their building, and their property—cars, motor bikes, and kids toys—were crushed by tanks. The FBI publicly complained that their techniques were ineffective. (Dallas Morning News, April 15, 1993, pg. 8A.) But remember, according to Louis Freeh, "No one in the FBI wanted anyone harmed ..." Louis Freeh has never disavowed these FBI actions, nor prosecuted FBI agents for violating the Davidians' First Amendment rights. How well does Freeh represent the Catholic Church's view on the right to worship according to conscience? For more details, see:

Mr. Freeh's Crimes. Speaking of the arrest of fellow parishioner Hanssen on February 20, Mr. Freeh said: "A betrayal of trust by an FBI agent, who is not only sworn to enforce the law, but specifically to help protect our nation's security, is particularly abhorrent. This kind of criminal conduct represents the most traitorous action imaginable against a country governed by the rule of law." In truth, Mr. Freeh himself has engaged in criminal acts. Conspiracy is a combination of two or more people formed for the purpose of committing a criminal or illegal act; FBI agents committed a conspiracy to persecute and murder the Davidians. Black's Law Dictionary tells us that "A conspiracy may be a continuing one; actors may drop out, and others drop in; the details of the operation may change from time to time; the members need not know each other or the part played by others; a member need not know all the details of the plan or the operations; he must, however, know the purpose of the conspiracy and agree to become a party to a plan to effectuate that purpose." Craig v. U.S., C.C.A.Cal., 81 F.2d 816, 822. Freeh, then, is a conspirator in the murder of the Branch Davidians, an accessory after the fact. But that's not all: He is also guilty of misprision of felony: "Whoever, having knowledge of the actual commission of a felony cognizable by a court of the United States, conceals and does not as soon as possible make known the same to some judge or other person in civil or military authority under the United States is guilty of the federal crime of misprision of felony. 18 U.S.C.A. Sec. 4." (Black's Law Dict.) If the US were governed by the Rule of Law, Louis Freeh would be behind bars.

FBI Agents Should Be Charged With Murder. When investigating sudden, violent, and suspicious deaths, standard police procedure is to assume homicide and then rule it out according to evidence. Standard police procedure should be used in this case; the FBI had the motive, means and opportunity to murder the Davidians. The FBI destroyed crime scene evidence. The FBI agents should be arrested, indicted, and tried. If convicted, they should be considered for the death penalty. "Equal Justice Under Law." It's the American way.

Think Again. With the Waco track record, do you unquestioningly accept the FBI's word on anything, including Mr. Hanssen's guilt? Mr. Hanssen was a counter espionage agent. A favorite ruse of such agents is to pretend to betray their country, give good information to win confidence, then give false information to mislead the enemy. There's an even chance that Mr. Hanssen was an "honest" double agent; perhaps he discovered some FBI corruption, was about to blow the whistle, but was pre-empted. Note that the US is reportedly asking for the death penalty, even though Hanssen is not being accused of passing on nuclear secrets. Threatening death is a technique  used to force the person being framed to "confess" and plea bargain. It guarantees that the truth is never heard and the US gets a conviction. Find out how the FBI used this technique in the Starbucks murder case. See "Starbucks Railroad Job on Track," by David Martin,

Public Sacrilege. Louis Freeh gives public scandal to the Catholic Church. As a "good Catholic" Freeh must confess his sins to a priest once a year. Since taking over the FBI, Freeh must have made at least seven confessions. Catholic doctrine stipulates that, in order to be absolved from sin, a penitent must genuinely repent and resolve to sin no more. But each day on the job, Freeh partakes of the ongoing conspiracy to protect the murderers of the Branch Davidians. Lying about the Davidians' deaths and protecting the murderers is Mr. Freeh's way of life, a requirement of his job, just as theft is a job requirement of a jewel thief. Would it be right for a priest to absolve the thief on Monday, knowing that the would-be penitent had a heist planned for Tuesday? Of course not—so why make an exception for a man in Mr. Freeh's line of work? Thus the Church, in its public embrace of Mr. Freeh, holds the sacrament of confession up to public ridicule.

For What Foreign Power Does Freeh Work? "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matter of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." (Matt.23:23.) The Waco case shows the unrepentant Freeh has a Pharisee's love of truth and justice. Let's hear some more from Parishioner Freeh: On June 30, 2000, Freeh and the directors of two private interest groups, the United States Holocaust Museum and the Anti-Defamation League, announced a new training program for FBI agents. According to the FBI press release, the new course "focuses on law enforcement's historical role in the 1930's and 40's in abetting the Holocaust. It is designed to ensure that FBI investigators, early in their training, understand fully the consequences when law enforcement fails to protect citizens, their civil rights, their dignities, and their moral, ethical and human values." Freeh is quoted directly in the release. "We must be morally responsible for what we do. We have to understand and protect not just the people we serve, but the moral and ethical values and human dignities that are so important to us all." Note that Freeh said not one word about Americans who were holocausted at Waco. Freeh has shown utter contempt for OUR country, OUR people, OUR Bill of Rights. If Mr. Hanssen worked for Russia, for what foreign power does Mr. Freeh work?

As Catholics, or parishioners of St. Catherine of Siena's, or members of Opus Dei, please try to put Christ's words into action. Approach Mr. Freeh and ask which of Christ's words justify protecting the murderers of the Branch Davidians. Persuade him to stop lying about the Davidian deaths and bring the murderers of Melissa Morrison and the others to justice. Christ's words apply to us too, not just Mr. Freeh: "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." — Matthew, 25:45.

Copyright, March 11, 2001, Carol A. Valentine, Curator, Waco Holocaust Electronic Museum <Curator (at) public-action.com> http://www.holocausts.org/WacoMuseum .

For information on Davidian civil law suits and the video "Waco: The Rules of Engagement," see the Burial Gallery of the Museum. This pamphlet has been posted to the following Usenet newsgroups: alt.religion.christian.roman-catholic, talk.politics.guns, soc.culture.usa, alt.conspiracy, alt.politics.usa.republican, soc.culture jewish, and others. Please join us for discussion.

Learn more about Freeh's FBI: http://www.FBIcover-up.com — http://www.thepacc.org