A Catholic nonprofit used mobile app tracking data to s​py on gay priests: report

A Denver-based Catholic nonprofit allocated millions of dollars towards spying on priests who use use dating and hookup apps, and leaked the data to bishops, The Washington Post reports.

Per The Post, Mark Bauman, John Martin and Tim Reichert — all philanthropists representing Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal — are behind the data tracking, which is illegal.

The Post reports:

The project's aim, according to tax records, is to 'empower the church to carry out its mission' by giving bishops 'evidence-based resources' with which to identify weaknesses in how they train priests.

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Though a majority of the data came from the dating app, Grindr, according to The Post, the organization "obtained data that spans 2018 through 2021 for multiple dating and hookup apps," also "including Scruff, Growlr and Jack'd, all used by gay men, as well as OkCupid, a major site for people of various sexualities."

In 2018, the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) reported, "For many LGBT people still choosing with whom they share their sexual orientation, privacy is of paramount concern. A privacy data breach that exposes someone's sexual orientation can have far-reaching effects, including the loss of employment, loss of familial relationships and friendships and even the potential for physical harm or death."

Justin Sherman, a senior fellow at Duke University's public policy school said, "The power of this story is that you don't often see where these practices are linked to a specific person or group of people. Here, you can clearly see the link." He also noted the "number of data privacy laws in the country" can be "counted on one or two hands."

Although a spokesperson for the nonprofit's president, Jayd Henricks, said he would agree to interview with The Post, he has not responded to request.

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The Post reports:

After The Washington Post reached out again, Henricks on Wednesday posted a first-person piece on the site First Things, saying he was proud to be part of the group, whose purpose was 'to love the Church and to help the Church to be holy, with every tool she could be given,' including data.

Reporters at The Post "interviewed two people with firsthand knowledge of the project, heard an audio recording of Henricks discussing it, and reviewed documents that were prepared for bishops as well as public records."

Regarding the interviewees' shared thoughts on the matter, The Post reports they each "disapprove of the project," calling it "un-Catholic," as it is "spying and coercive in ways that are damaging to priest-bishop relations and to the reputation of the Catholic Church."

The Post reports:

The project's existence reflects a newly empowered American Catholic right wing that sees enforcing its interpretation of church teaching on sexuality and gender as an existential issue for the church and that no longer trusts bishops to do so. It is a flip of traditional church power dynamics, with the Colorado laypeople in a position to pressure bishops.

At the most intimate level, it shows a new generation of surveillance technology moving into different realms, now including the religious.

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The NCA notes "without adequate data privacy, the ramifications for the LGBT community can be catastrophic."

A member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops told The Post, "Revealing information that harms a person's reputation without an objectively valid reason — even if it's true — is considered a sin."

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The Washington Post's full report is available at this link (subscription required). The National Cybersecurity Alliance's full report is here.