Colorado Catholic Group Spent Millions Of Dollars To Track Gay Priests Via Grindr Data

A group of conservative Catholics from Colorado poured in millions of dollars to buy mobile app tracking data in an elaborate witch hunt to find and out gay priests who’ve used gay dating apps.

The story was broken by the Washington Post, which had reported that the US-based non-profit group Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal has spent millions in purchasing tracking data from gay and bi apps.

The data looks at apps that include Grindr, Scruff, Growlr and Jack’d from the years 2018 to 2021. From there, the group cross-referenced the sensitive information found with known addresses of priests.

That information was then handed over to bishops. According to the Washington Post, there currently is no US data privacy laws that prohibit the sale of this data.

The aim of this endeavor by the group has been described as a way to “empower the church to carry out its mission” with “evidence-based resources” to help train priests.

“Priests Arrested For Criminal Use Of Such Apps.”

The group’s president, Jayd Henricks wrote in an article on the site First Things, stating that he was proud to be part of the group and that they had conducted research in other areas, including analysing hook-up and dating apps.

“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.

“Sadly, in some places, we could scarcely avoid seeing it. And there have been news reports about priests arrested for criminal use of such apps.”

“It became clear that heterosexual and homosexual hook-up 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.”

According to the Washington Post, the group has already successfully outed one priest as gay. Back in 2021, Wisconsin Catholic priest Jeffrey Burrill had resigned after Grindr location data placed him in gay bars and saunas.

Grindr Reportedly ‘Infuriated’

Grindr isn’t too happy about the group’s activities and a spokesperson said the company was “furious.”

Patrick Lenihan, spokesperson for Grindr has told Gizmodo that after Grindr made changes in 2020, it wasn’t possible for location data to leak.

“We’re infuriated by the actions of these anti-LGBTQ vigilantes,” Lenihan said.

“Grindr has and will continue to push the industry to keep bad actors out of the ad tech ecosystem, particularly on behalf of the LGBTQ community.”

“All that group is doing is hurting people.”