Washington D.C., Jul 20, 2021 / 10:44 am
Msgr. Jeffrey Burrill, the general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, resigned from his post on Tuesday ahead of a media report alleging that he frequented gay bars and private residences while using a popular “hookup” app on his mobile device.
The report, published Tuesday afternoon by The Pillar, a Catholic news site, is based on what it described as an analysis of commercially available app data correlated to Burrill’s mobile device. The analysis shows that Burrill used the app Grindr on a near-daily basis during parts of 2018, 2019 and 2020, according to the report.
CNA reported Monday that church officials were bracing for information derived from this type of digital technology to become public.
Grindr is an app that describes itself as “the largest app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people.” Grindr users download the app and create a profile where they can post pictures, partner preferences, and other personal information. Grindr users are then notified when another user of Grindr is nearby.