A recent Washington Post article slammed a Denver nonprofit known as Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal (CLCR), saying the organization “spent millions on app data that tracked gay priests.” Elsewhere, the Post cited anonymous sources and no other evidence to claim that “those familiar with [CLCR’s] project said the organizers’ focus was gay priests.”
In reality, the organization legally used data to uncover both homosexual and heterosexual priests and seminarians who used hookup apps. “…[T]hese sorts of hookup apps are designed specifically for casual, anonymous sexual encounters — 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,” wrote CLCR President Jayd Henricks in First Things, responding to The Post.
The Post mischaracterized CLCR efforts as both “political” and “anti-gay” and failed to understand why it’s wrong for Catholic priests, who take vows of celibacy during their ordinations, to use hookup apps.
“To [The Washington Post], discussions about sex and celibacy, sin and salvation, are just fodder for clicks and titillation for readers,” wrote Henricks. “I disagree, and so does the Church. Ignoring the importance and reality of human sexuality and its expression isn’t healthy, and pretending problems aren’t there only stores up worse trouble for everyone…”
According to Henricks, Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal kept its work entirely private to “protect the privacy of those affected.” Without setting any expectations, CLCR handed the information
