(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) A Catholic nonprofit paid $4 million to collect data from multiple dating apps so that they would be able to determine if priests are adhering to their commitment to celibacy.
Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal [CLCR] is a Colorado nonprofit that helps the clergy by providing “evidence-based resources,” “support quality formation practices” and “identify weaknesses,” the organization’s website stated.
CLCR spent $4 million to gain access to data from multiple dating apps, like Grindr, Scruff and OKCupid, to determine whether members of the Catholic priesthood were using the apps, according to the Daily Caller.
The group received data from 2018 to 2021. Grindr provided the majority of information that the organization collected to find homosexual priests. The information was compiled into reports for Catholic bishops who say they have obtained the information from ad exchanges and used location data cross-referenced with various church and seminary addresses to determine who was using the apps, the Daily Caller reported.
The report didn’t disclose whether or not any Catholic clergymen who were caught using any of these apps were released from their positions.
CLCR’s President Jayd Henricks wrote about the group’s project in an article for First Things, saying that the mission was to “explore ways technology might serve the bishops in addressing their greatest challenges.”
“It’s true, as part of our data analysis work, we learned that some clergy were publicly advertising their interest in actions that contradicted their promises of celibacy,” Henricks wrote.
“All of that is a problem—one we as a Church can choose to acknowledge and confront, or not.”
“Publicly available data, bought in the ordinary way, was given to us at CLCR, and as we analyzed it, it became clear that heterosexual and homosexual hookup apps were used by some seminarians and some priests in some places, and with volumes and patterns suggesting those were not isolated moral lapses by individuals,” Henricks added.
