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July 23, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – Grindr, the gay hookup app that serves to facilitate anonymous homosexual encounters, condemned the Catholic publication The Pillar for outing one of its users, the now-former Secretary General of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, who apparently “engaged in serial sexual misconduct.”
In statements made since the bombshell investigation by The Pillar was published Tuesday, Grindr attempted to deny that anonymous customer data it sold could have led to the unmasking of Burrill while also condemning the investigation as “homophobic and full of unsubstantiated inuendo.”
According to The Pillar report, Grindr was the source of a trove of commercially available data it had purchased that an analyst was then able to link to a mobile device used by Burrill, showing that he “visited gay bars and private residences while using a location-based hookup app in numerous cities from 2018 to 2020, even while traveling on assignment for the U.S. bishops’ conference.”
The alleged covert homosexual activity by Burrill is especially troubling because of his powerful role at the USCCB directing diocesan and conference responses to clerical sexual scandals.
In a VICE article headlined “The Inevitable Weaponization of App Data Is Here,” a Grindr spokesperson told VICE’s tech-centered “Motherboard” media channel:
Grindr's response is aligned with the editorial story published by The Washington Post which describes the original blog post from The Pillar as homophobic and full of unsubstantiated innuendo. The alleged activities listed in that unattributed blog post are infeasible from a technical standpoint and incredibly unlikely to occur. There is absolutely no evidence supporting the allegations of improper data collection or usage related to the Grindr app as purported.
“It is not clear what Grindr sees as ‘infeasible from a technical standpoint,’” wrote VICE’s Joseph Cox. “In January the Norwegian Data Protection Authority fined Grindr $11.7 million for providing its users' data to third parties, including their precise location data. Almost prophetically, Norwegian authorities said at the time that Grindr users could be targeted with this sort of information in countries where homosexuality is illegal.”
“Researchers have repeatedly shown that it is possible to figure out who a phone in an allegedly anonymized set of location data belongs to sometimes with a few points of reference, such as their home or place of work,” explained Cox.
PETITION UPDATE (6/29/2021):
The Pope has written a note to Fr. James Martin, SJ, praising his fellow Jesuit’s controversial pro-LGBT ministry, saying it "reflects the closeness of God" and is in the "style of God."
The Pope’s note was written in response to a communication that Martin had sent Francis earlier, informing him of an upcoming LGBT conference organized by renegade New Ways Ministry (NWM), which has been denounced as non-Catholic ministry by the U.S. bishops and whose leaders defied the Vatican’s order to cease their affiliation with NWM decades ago.
In spite of the fact that Francis has done this, the Church still teaches that homosexual acts are "intrinsically disordered," and "under no circumstances can they be approved." (Catechism of the Catholic Church Para. 2357)
Therefore, when a priest, like James Martin, SJ - and, New Ways Ministry - adovcate for the normalization of homosexuality and transgenderism, without calling for chastity and repentence, we know that this style is most certainly not in the style of God.
Please continue to SIGN and share this petition asking the bishops of the United States to stop Martin's LGBT advocacy.
'On eve of LGBT Catholic conference, Pope Francis praised Fr. James Martin, SJ’s pro-LGBT ministry' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/on-eve-of-lgbt-catholic-conference-pope-francis-praised-fr-james-martin-sjs-pro-lgbt-ministry
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PETITION UPDATE (2/4/2020):
Fr. James Martin, SJ, can't resist telling bishops how to run their dioceses.
He recently opined that dioceses should stop firing homosexuals who are "married" by the state, saying that this is tantamount to discrimination.
But, of course, when it comes to such relationships, Bishops must discriminate between what is authentically Catholic and Christian, both under the natural law and in Revelation.
And, such people, who enter into a homosexual relationship and then have it publicly recognized by the state as something which nature and religion know can never be fruitful -- but, which conversely, can cause grave scandal to children -- cannot expect to hold positions in Catholic schools.
The two positions are contradictory, and not just in the way that other things are contradictory.
Homosexual "marriage" is a contradiction in terms, and is not only unnatural, but also confusing to young minds. And, not just about human nature, but also about the way that God has designed man and woman to be together, in marriage, in a lifelong, monogamous bond.
What Fr. Martin suggests is that bishops are free to take a sledge hammer to God's design...which, of course, is totally, totally wrong.
Bishops, please continue assert your right to protect the innocence of children as well as defend the institution of marriage.
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Fr. James Martin, SJ recently issued a tweet questioning the Bible's condemnation of homosexual acts.
Fr. Martin’s tweet quotes an article from the Center for Action and Contemplation in which Fr. Richard Rohr, a priest with a long record of dissenting from established Church teachings, favorably shares a pro-homosexuality missive from his “dear friend,” Methodist minister Walter Wink. In June of 2018, Fr. Rohr declared in a speech that “historically, scientifically, culturally,” the Bible is “a mass of contradictions from beginning to end.”
This is decidedly NOT what the Catholic Church teaches.
Thankfully, Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, and Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, South Africa, have both responded to Fr. James Martin’s tweet highlighting an article that questions the “biblical judgment” of “same-sex sexual behavior.”
Bishop Strickland issued a response yesterday evening on his own Twitter account:
“Thank you for acknowledging that you question scripture. If we go down that road where do we stop? I know you have lots of support but you are challenging the Deposit of Faith that I promised to defend. As a bishop I’ll keep defending it.”
This morning, Cardinal Napier also took to the popular social media platform to give his response to Fr. Martin’s tweet.
“How convenient to use slavery to justify support for homosexuality, totally overlooking the fact that the Bible is overwhelmingly the story of God freeing His People from all slavery — physical & political but also slavery to idols & false gods, to moral & spiritual aberrations!”
We give thanks to God for these examples of strong leadership from the episcopate!
But, we need more Shepherds to come out against Fr. Martin's LGBT advocacy, which is a stain on the Church's teaching and on Christ's admonition to, "Go, and sin no more!"
Thank you for SIGNING!
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Fr. James Martin is perhaps the most notorious pro-LGBT priest in the Catholic Church today. His public statements are opposed to the Church’s perennial teachings on sexuality, marriage, homosexuality, and transgenderism. They blind souls to the truth about human nature and the harsh reality of sin.
And, in spite of meeting with the Pope recently, which gave the veneer of respectability to his morally dangerous positions on the Church's teaching on sexuality, no-one has the authority to declare morally good or neutral, something which is actually intrinsically disordered -- not even the Pope.
Thankfully, however, there are some pastors of the Catholic Church who continue to place the constant teaching of the Church on faith and morals, and on sexuality, above human respect.
This petition, therefore, asks the Bishops of the Catholic Church to stop bowing to human respect, and ban Fr. James Martin from spreading his spiritual poison in their dioceses..."spiritual poison", because encouraging someone to continue in mortal sin is like giving poison to someone's soul, no matter how well-intentioned one may be.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia released a statement noting that Fr. Martin’s “statements and activities” have caused confusion.
- “A pattern of ambiguity in his teachings tends to undermine his stated aims, alienating people from the very support they need for authentic human flourishing,” Chaput wrote. “Due to the confusion caused by his statements and activities regarding same-sex related (LGBT) issues, I find it necessary to emphasize that Father Martin does not speak with authority on behalf of the Church, and to caution the faithful about some of his claims.”
Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois quickly issued a statement supporting Chaput, saying that aspects of Martin’s teachings are “deeply scandalous,” and his “messages create confusion among the faithful and disrupt the unity of the Church.”
Bishop Stika of Knoxville, Tennessee has also opposed some of Martin’s statements.
And, in the Fall of 2018, Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland asked his fellow bishops to discern whether or not fraternal correction demands they ban from their dioceses Fr. James Martin and his pro-gay "marriage" message.
- Strickland said of Martin: “There’s a priest that travels around now basically saying that he doesn’t [believe the doctrine of the Church on marriage], and he seems to be very well promoted in various places.”
- “Brothers, I think part of the fraternal correction...we offer each other is to say, 'Can that be presented in our diocese? That same-sex ‘marriage’ is just fine, and the Church will one day grow to understand that.'”
- “That’s not what we teach,” he stated. “And I think we really have to ask those serious questions.”
Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, has called Fr. Martin “one of the most outspoken critics of the church’s message with regard to sexuality.”
And, Cardinal Raymond Burke has called Martin’s teaching “not coherent with the Church’s teaching on homosexuality.”
Over the years, Fr. Martin has made numerous remarks that indicate open hostility towards and deep opposition to unchangeable doctrine on matters related to men, women, and sexuality. Bishops need to stop allowing him to spread his un-Christ-like message in their dioceses. Below is an extensive list of things he has said or done. For instance, Fr. Martin...
- Wants active homosexuals to be “invited into parish ministries” like eucharistic ministers.
- Once claimed “some” saints were “probably gay.”
- Told a gay Catholic journalist that he hopes that during the exchange of peace at mass “you will be able to kiss your partner or soon to be your husband. Why not? What’s the terrible thing?”
- Tweeted support for transgender bathrooms, claiming that “It doesn't hurt anybody" which bathroom "they" choose to use.
- Believes God made “LGBTQ people…who they are.”
- Wants the Catechism’s use of the term “intrinsically disordered” scrapped. He believes it is “needlessly hurtful" to homosexuals and thinks “differently ordered” is preferable because it is more “pastoral.”
- Has said a Catholic attending a same-sex “wedding” is just as acceptable as a Catholic attending a Jewish wedding.
- Claims to have discovered a "very high correlation between people who are against [same-sex marriage] and people who are in fact homophobic."
- Received an award from a pro-homosexual group for his “lasting contributions to the safety and/or equality of people who are LGBTQ, their families, and allies.”
- Thinks the Church should recognize the “special gifts” homosexuals bring to the Church because of their sexual attractions.
- Claims the Bible has been taken out of "context” in its condemnation of homosexual acts.
- Urged homosexual priests to “come out” as “LGBT” in order to facilitate “dialogue” with bishops.
- Praised the “fidelity” of a “married” transgender couple and wondered what the Church can “learn” from them.
- Retweeted a liberal journalist who complained priests can’t bless “committed gay couples.”
- Was given the “Bridge Building Award” at the 2016 gathering of the pro-gay New Ways Ministry, a dissident group censure by the Vatican and the U.S. Bishops Conference.
While many rushed to condemn The Pillar for having crossed a new ethical frontier in journalism by using de-anonymized commercially available phone data, it has been done before.
Commentators are outraged that a priest serving in the upper echelons of the U.S. Catholic Church was outed as an active homosexual, yet they did not express similar indignation when the same sort of strategy was employed to identify people who were present at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
“This is the first instance that I know of, of this data being used by a journalistic entity to track a specific person and weaponize their private, secretly collected information against them,” said Bennett Cyphers, a staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights organization, told The Washington Post.
“In February, The New York Times' opinion section married location and advertising data to reveal the movements and identities of specific people who attended the January 6 Capitol riots,” noted Cox.
“While there were no names or phone numbers in the data, we were once again able to connect dozens of devices to their owners, tying anonymous locations back to names, home addresses, social networks and phone numbers of people in attendance. In one instance, three members of a single family were tracked in the data,” according to the Times.
And it’s not just journalists who are exploiting supposedly anonymous information: The U.S. military, law enforcement agencies, and even the IRS are purchasing it, thereby “skirting the need to obtain a warrant,” according to Vice/Motherboard reports.
What stands out about the Burrill unmasking “isn’t that it’s improbable but that it’s the exact worst-case scenario privacy experts have been warning about for a long time,” asserted The Washington Post technology reporter Heather Kelly.
Is this week’s exposing of an active homosexual priest by a Catholic publication truly the “worst-case scenario,” or was the tracking down of many patriotic Americans at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 by The New York Times the “worst?”
Those seeking to normalize and protect homosexuality within the Catholic Church took to social media this week to object to The Pillar story and protect Burrill.
“This is a disgrace: spying on bishops and priests to see if they're being chaste and celibate,” tweeted Father James Martin, SJ, perhaps the most outspoken force for the normalization of homosexuality and transgenderism within the Roman Catholic Church. The Church teaches that bishops and priests (with the exception of those married before ordination, such as Eastern Rite priests or those in the Anglican Ordinariate) are to be celibate.
“Of course it's aimed at gay priests, and ‘gay apps,’ which shouldn't surprise anyone,” continued Martin. “It's part of the ongoing witch hunt against gay priests.”
This is a disgrace: spying on bishops and priests to see if they're being chaste and celibate. Why not spy on lay teachers at Catholic schools? Why not spy on all parishioners?
“If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” (Ps 130)https://t.co/meKzZ3Gmxw
— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) July 20, 2021
“The door that Flynn and his bloodhounds opened today is not healthy for the future of the Church,” tweeted Catholic sociologist Rudolfo Soriano Núñez. “The Church does not need a Gestapo disguised as media.”
“Stop feeding that kind of Catholicism,” he warned the USCCB, “because they are very willing to destroy a person like your former General Secretary, just because he is gay.”
The door that Flynn and his bloodhounds opened today is not healthy for the future of the Church, but guess what @usccb, you raised that crow and now is coming after your eyes, to pluck them out of your head's orbits.
— Rodolfo Soriano Núñez (@rsnunez) July 20, 2021
“The fundamental issue for many is an affection for homosexuality clouding ethics,” tweeted Daniel Kane. “There would be no problem condemning the Msgr if it were Ashley Madison & the priest managing the USCCB's response to sexual crimes/sin attempted 1000 anonymous sexual encounters in 3 yrs with women.”
The fundamental issue for many is an affection for homosexuality clouding ethics. There would be no problem condemning the Msgr if it were Ashley Madison & the priest managing the USCCB's response to sexual crimes/sin attempted 1000 anonymous sexual encounters in 3 yrs with women
— Daniel Kane (@kane_daniel) July 21, 2021
“Here's the bottom line: There isn't a living breathing Catholic who understands the crisis in the Church who doesn't know the overriding issue is homosexuality within the clergy and even the bishops,” said Church Militant’s Michael Voris. “Heck, 10 years ago, The New York Times correctly labeled the Catholic priesthood a gay profession.”
