US: Catholic group spends million to find priests using gay dating apps

A conservative group in Colorado in the US has spent millions to identify priests who used gay dating and hookup apps, as per reports. This data was then shared with bishops across the country. This project was carried out by Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal, reported the Washington Post.

The news outlet obtained tax records of the non-profit and found that the project was carried out to “empower the church to carry out its mission” and provide bishops with “evidence-based resources”

As per the news report, the group spent USD 4 million to obtain the data which was then sent to bishops located across the country. It is not yet fully clear what will be the ramifications of this. The report quoted an annonymous source to say that the data may mean that some of the clergymembers are kept from getting promoted and some of them being pushed to early retirement.

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“The power of this story is that you don’t often see where these practices are linked to a specific person or group of people. Here, you can clearly see the link,” said Justin Sherman, a senior fellow at Duke University’s public policy school. Sherman was quoted by the Washington Post.

“Revealing information that harms a person’s reputation without an objectively valid reason – even if it’s true – is considered a sin,” said a member of United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) as quoted by the Post.

Jayd Henricks, president of Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal defended collection of information.

“After all, data is used by all major corporations, so why not the Church?” he wrote in his blog.

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