A Catholic organization is spending millions to track gay priests on dating apps

[Celerity]

https://www.reckon.news/news/2023/03/a-catholic-organization-is-spending-millions-to-track-gay-priests-on-dating-apps.html



A Colorado nonprofit spent $4 million to buy cell phone data and track priests who used gay dating apps and visited gay bars. A report by The Washington Post about the intendedly-private investigation by Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal was focused on gay priests, a move some Catholic priests are calling an example of homophobia in the church.

“The focus was on gay priests, not straight priests, and certainly not straight lay employees. But, of all the people in the church, why target gay priests? That’s not a hard question. Hatred is the reason for the targeting. The level of homophobia in the church is astounding,” said Jesuit priest James Martin, SJ, in a tweet reacting to the Post’s report.

Link to tweet

The Catholic Church has required priests be celibate—meaning, they aren’t allowed to have any sex—for thousands of years (but that could be changing, according to Pope Francis). The church also does not allow married men to become priests, as that would complicate the celibacy requirement, and still considers homosexuality a sin.

While he didn’t reply to the Post’s request for comment, CLCR president Jayd Hendricks did address the “gay” issue in a piece published by First Things. “It’s not about straight or gay priests and seminarians. It’s about behavior that harms everyone involved, at some level and in some way, and is a witness against the ministry of the Church,” he said in the First Things piece. The data used to out the priests was obtained the usual way–buying the data from apps, which are legally allowed to sell.

snip

[ExtremelyWokeMatt]

1. Actually the celibacy requirement was not around until around the Middle Ages

As a preventive measure in Western Europe due to land rights and inheritances. The eastern church didn’t have that requirement. And neither had anything to do with the definition of marriage in the church, which treated women as property in a contract.

Religious groups can choose who they affiliate with but it’s not illegal or immoral to be gay these days so the tracking is pretty underhanded and obsessive. My family was doing the same to me. Fuck them. I’m not Catholic, or Christian (anymore), or straight, and never will be. I respect the right of people to be any of those but not to force themselves or their ways on anyone.

[Trenzalore]

2. The Catholic Church tracked pedophiles

and transferred them to new churches when things got hot instead of defrocking them and turning them over to authorities.