Reports posted by a conservative Catholic blog threaten to shake the foundations of the Catholic Church. From the analysis of cell phone data, The Pillar concluded that Priests from different levels of the Catholic hierarchy used the gay dating app, Grindr.
The Pillar published a series of investigations that were later replicated by different means, including The New York Times. The first article led to the resignation of Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, former secretary general of the United States Conference of Bishops. Burrill was responsible for coordinating the church’s response to allegations of sexual abuse against American Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, revealed in June 2018.
The Pillar’s Second Report, published online days later, mentions the use of Grindr by people whose names were not mentioned in the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey. The third states that in 2018 at least 32 mobile devices broadcast app data signals from areas of Vatican City to which tourists do not have access.
The investigations put church officials in an awkward position. Priests take a vow of celibacy that is by no means flexible, and downloading or using dating apps is incompatible with that choice. Users of Grindr, which promotes itself as “the world’s largest dating network for gay, bisexual, trans and queer people,” create a profile with their partner’s preferences and receive notifications when another user is on nearby.
The father Bob bonnot, executive director of the American Association of Catholic Priests, told the New York Times that the use of cell phone data to track Bishop Burrill’s movement deepened the sense of vulnerability felt by many priests. “It can be terribly threatening,” Bonnot said, adding: “It can make all priests uncomfortable and worried.”.
For his part, the Cardinal of Newark, Joseph Tobin, stated in a Zoom panel organized by Georgetown University: “If someone who has made a vow of celibacy or a vow of chastity has a dating app on their phone, they are looking for trouble.” Vatican officials confirmed that they met with representatives of The Pillar in June although they will not respond publicly to their reports.
The editors of the Catholic community website, JD Flynn and Ed Condon, said in a podcast that their work seeks to expose a secret history of inappropriate behavior. “Illegal and Immoral Sexual Behavior on the Part of Clerics Who Are Obliged to Observe Celibacy could lead to a wide tolerance for any kind of sexual sin “, he assured Flynn.
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