Good, evil, and sacrifice: Bishop Olson celebrates Mass for retired FBI agents
Members of the FBI Society of Former Special Agents participate in Mass celebrated by Bishop Michael F. Olson on September 14, 2024 during their convention at the Sheraton Hotel in Fort Worth. (NTC/Juan Guajardo)
FORT WORTH — Bishop Michael Olson was on a ‘top secret’ mission Sept. 14.
He was called upon by the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI to close their regional conference with a special Mass.
The conference, which spanned four days at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Fort Worth, brought together many former agents from around the country. The keynote speaker during one of many closed-door sessions was FBI director Christopher Wray.
About 60 people, largely former special agents and their spouses, attended the Mass, which was held in the Sheraton’s Crystal Ballroom. About 80 to 85 percent of the society’s membership is retired, according to foundation trustee Tase Bailey Jr.
Bishop Olson personally thanked many for their service before and after celebrating the Mass. During his homily, he reflected on the special calling of those in law enforcement and the need to lean on one’s faith to endure the demands of the vocation.
Bishop Olson said, “Without true faith in God as revealed fully by Christ, we see this world alone and its finite terms as all that there is, and we soon become cynical about human good and evil — seeing evil as inevitable and soon indiscriminate from that which is good. If we have no faith or if we honor and worship no God above the State, then the State will be treated as a god.
“Without a confident and trusting faith in the Son of God as bolstered by good works,” Bishop Olson continued, “the line between agents of law enforcement and criminals becomes indiscernible and arbitrary because it is no longer delineated within a common humanity nor between the objective moral measurement of good and evil.”
Bishop Olson said that police officers, soldiers, and agents of law enforcement demonstrate “their faith through works of charity and justice with personal sacrifice for God and for other people, especially the weak and most vulnerable. It is only in the light of authentic faith in the true God that you can endure suffering as nothing with confidence in God’s power who offered the Blood of His Son for our forgiveness and that we might live forever.”
From FBI to Safe Environment
Bailey said a Catholic Mass and a non-denominational Protestant service are traditions at the conferences. The Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI is both a fraternal and charitable organization, he explained, and some of its work includes awarding scholarships and attending to those impacted by natural disasters.
Bailey called on fellow society member Mike Waguespack, a parishioner at St. Frances Cabrini in Granbury, to use his contacts within the diocese to coordinate the Mass.
Waguespack is a safe environment co-coordinator and facilitator for several parishes in the diocese. He spent 30 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and retired as a Deputy Assistant Director for the FBI’s national security division before going on to work for the Department of Defense.
Waguespack and his wife then moved from Washington, D.C., to Texas, and in 2012 he became involved in the safe environment program at the suggestion of a fellow retiree from the FBI.
Mission of Service
Waguespack, 74, said during his career, he found a large number of his colleagues in the FBI to be affiliated with the Catholic Church.
“Especially my generation,” he said. “A lot of agents of my generation were Catholic.”
In retirement, Waguespack has carried on the Catholic mission of service. In addition to the safe environment work, he’s also involved with campus ministry at Tarleton State University, is a court-appointed advocate for abused and neglected children through CASA, and is a board member of a child welfare organization in Hood County.
“I’ve been blessed with a good career, had a good retirement, and for me, it’s just a way of paying back,” he said. “I have the ability to volunteer, and this is what I do now.”
His drive is to protect children.
“That’s my calling,” he said. “Being involved in each of those different organizations, I kind of get to see the entire picture, if you will, in terms of what our kids are going through, what so many kids are going through, in this country right now.
“My faith does strengthen me, and just helps me to see there is good in the world despite everything that’s around us.”
For those in the law enforcement field, prayer and reflection can be stabilizing pillars, Bishop Olson said in an interview after Mass.
“I think that especially people who are involved in law enforcement and the challenges that they face today need God’s help,” the bishop said. “They want to do what’s right, and we need God’s help to understand authentic justice.
“The most important thing is prayer. So many involved in law enforcement, in carrying out their duty for the sake of society, unfortunately encounter their brother and sister human beings who frequently are at a low point in their lives morally, as well perhaps socially. They can pray to God that as they call people to accountability and justice and carrying out their duties, they never forget their shared humanity. And the only way to do that is by always keeping God first, through prayer and good works.”
And with that, it was mission accomplished for Bishop Olson.