A well-known Catholic priest in Ireland was outed for having a secret Grindr profile two months ago… and we’re just now learning about it!
Related: Catholic Priest Caught Using The Book Of Grindr To Spread His Gospel To Underage Boys
35-year-old Rory Coyle is, er, was a priest in Armagh, a town in Northern Ireland. That is until it was discovered he had been keeping a secret Grindr account with some rather scandalous photos of himself.
Coyle was outed when an unnamed source contacted the local Catholic newspaper to confess he had sexted with the holy man on Grindr on several occasions.
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In an email to the whistleblower blog Thinking Catholicism, the source, who is over the age of 18, explains: “[Coyle] spoke to me on Grindr a few times and kept wanting to come to my mum’s house for sex with me while she was at work. He sent me lots of naked pics of himself too. When I realized who he was I sent them to a journalist along with the screenshots of his sex chat.”
Related: Antigay Priests Who Lust For Men Revealed In Secret Webcam Sessions
Not long after that, the source says, Coyle’s Grindr account was deleted and his Facebook page was deactivated.
“I assume the journalist contacted the diocese,” the source continues.
In the email, he goes on to call Coyle a “dirty bastard” and a “total pervert” who admitted via text to participating orgies, going to gay beaches, and renting rooms by the hour for “sex meets.”
“He’s just a hypocrite. Denouncing gay people from the pulpit and then shagging guys when no one is looking.”
Related: Catholic Priest Allegedly Stole Millions Of Dollars To Pay Rent Boy Lover
Days after the story broke, Coyle was quietly removed from his clerical duties. His photo was also briefly removed from the Armagh Parish’s official website. No explanation was given.
Then yesterday, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Armagh confirmed to Irish News that Coyle is taking a temporary leave of absence, though the statement stopped short of explaining why:
Early in March, Father Rory Coyle asked Archbishop Eamon Martin for time off to obtain personal and spiritual support. Following this, on March 22 he asked the Archbishop to extend his leave so that he could ‘engage in a period of personal discernment and receive further help’. Father Coyle’s request was granted and he is currently on leave of absence.
Queerty reached out directly to Coyle for comment but have not yet heard back.
Related: Oregon Priest Investigated For Unholy Bathroom Behavior
Paco
While I agree that the priest is a hypocrite, was it necessary to label him a “dirty bastard” and “total pervert” for doing the same activities many gay men, both out and closeted, participate in? Shame him for being a hypocrite, but not for his normal sexual activities, unless your goal is to shame gay men for participating in this stuff too.
onthemark
@Paco: Queerty is not saying that, they are quoting the anonymous “source” who reported him.
Paco
@onthemark: I know that. I would have mentioned Queerty by name if my comment was meant for the site.
midknightryder13
@Paco: IS HE a hypocrite? We know his CHURCH is, but there are many Catholic priests who think the church’s stance is incorrect.
Paco
@midknightryder13: I can only go by what the story claims. The source claims he “denounces gay people from the pulpit” while engaging in homosexual sex in private. Perhaps the source only meant that being a sexually active gay priest in a homophobic religion is hypocrisy?
ingyaom
CORRECTION: Northern Ireland is not in Ireland; it’s part of the UK, so this guy is British, not Irish.
crowebobby
While I usually agree with outing gay anti-gay hypocrites in positions of power, this “source” still strikes me as being something of a rat fink.
Darrellx
OK Queerty, Be a good girl and Daddy where Coyle’s dirt pictures are at!
midknightryder13
@Paco: Quite correct. I have since read other stories which go into more detail about his activities within the church. So, mea culpa.
onthemark
@ingyaom: Well, maybe “British” to the Associated Press or to the U.N., but you can bet a Catholic in Armagh is going to call himself Irish.
Sluggo2007
I don’t approve of what the priest did, but if there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s a whistle blower (and I mean BLOWER) tattling on the priest when he was just as involved (and over 18).
Me2
I’m sure many priests are sexually active. It’s just simple human nature. The fact that they’ve chosen such a sexually repressive and judgmental way of life, based on biblical misinterpretations, earn them no sympathy from me. This man should take this opportunity to leave the priesthood and live in his truth. But either way, he’ll still be back on grindr at some point.
Poncho Sanchez
I guess it is gay men’s left brain orientation that keeps them gravitating toward religion. A friend of mind was telling me a lot of gay men practice the afro carribean religion of santeria, in my native cuba…..but I think all of it is bunk.
jayceecook
@ingyaom: Correction: The status of NI in the UK is a little more complicated than you make it out to be. Citizens of NI are free to identify themselves as Irish, British or both. This was something they had been doing for a long time but was “set in stone” by the Good Friday Agreement also known as the Belfast Agreement that was signed by the UK and The Republic of Ireland in 1998. It also allowed for the people of NI to have either or both British and Irish citizenship in respect to the two governments. Therefore it is perfectly acceptable to refer to this priest as Irish.
o.codone
Yeah, the little pussy ratted may have been rejected by the priest, may have tried to shake the priest down for money or some or something else might have gone on. The little bastard could have any number of motivations. But, leave it to the anti-catholic hate site Queerty to put this story out there with the intention of defaming the church. What Queerty doesn’t yet understand is that the readers of this site have less and less tolerance for this kind of bigotry, especially when it comes to a priest just trying to do what everybody else is doing, just wanna get some dick. Queerty is ruining it’s own “reputation” by being an anti-catholic smear site. It’s ugly guys. Let your anger go. There is no longer the unlimited hatred for catholics in the gay community that you appear to think there is. Gays are a lot more tolerant of priests prowling for dick. This isn’t the 70’s any more. Besides, you’re fighting a battle against the church which you’re destined to lose. And, besides that, you just sound shrill.
Kangol
I’ve known many gay priests. Some of them have been very supportive of other gay and trans people. But they belong to a church that is very homophobic and that promotes anti-gay policies. I once asked a gay white priest friend about this, and he admitted that he disagreed with the Roman Catholic hierarchy (many of whom were and are closeted gay men), but that he also felt called to his vocation by the Holy Spirit. I am not against these gay men who have chosen the cloth, but I also cannot support a church that actively works to oppose equality for LGBTIQ people.
While black voters were (wrongly and) viciously attacked over their alleged Prop 8 vote, there was comparatively far less criticism of the Roman Catholic bishops and prelates who pushed as hard as they could to overturn same-sex marriage in California. Why were they given a pass? And how can gay progressive priests and nuns stay in a church and system that actively seeks to oppress other gay people? Gay Republicans, the question is the same for you?
ingyaom
@jayceecook: Thanks for the clarification. What I was really responding to was the article’s reference to “a priest in Ireland”, which should have read: “the U.K.” or “Northern Ireland”.
Scribe38
@Kangol: Just graduated from a Catholic University and lots of them still think of gays as abominations (staff not students). If I had it to do all over again, I would hAve gone to a secular college and turned down my scholarship. It was awesome being in meetings as a Nun and Priest tried to get rid of the gay/straight club without appearing to be discriminating.
I will also say Queerty has a right to report on this because it’s gay news. It’s not as if they are making up the story. As for the person who turned him in, yeah I think he’s a jerk.
girldownunder
Agree that the guy is a hypocrite.
Disagree his appetites are dirty or weird.
Shocked he likes adults.
Definite he will reappear in another dioceses.
That’s how the the church rolls.
They are disgusting trolls & need to be taxed to the hilt!
Chris
I read about his going to secret orgies and saw some of the claims made by the young man on a blog that featured this case. Yeah, he’s a hypocrite; and really what fueled the young man’s anger was that this priest had spouted his anti-gay drivel at the school where he (the young man) had attended years earlier.
In many ways, this man and other priests like him are no different than so many of the gay men who I have met over the years. Those men from decades ago also were hypocrites, living in constant fear of being exposed and saying/doing things that are deeply anti-gay so as deflect suspicion from themselves.
I guess it’s going to take a lot of priests who refuse to go along with the Church’s hypocrisy and who get the courage to come out to finally drag this organization into the 21st century. In the meantime, stuff like this is going to happen with boring regularity.
GayEGO
This is getting boring, especially after seeing the movie “Spotlight” about the Boston Catholic Archdiocese priests molesting young boys. If the Vatican wants to hang on to the false hoopla in their doctrine they will continue to lose members.
Sammy Schlipshit
My ‘priest allotment’ is a lowly two….but I met several others….and this was in a small community…Monterey Bay area.
Ogre Magi
Too many christians, too few LIONS!
martinbakman
Phuq da Vatican!
This one made me chuckle.
Oregon Priest Investigated For Unholy Bathroom Behavior
It never ends.
onthemark
@o.codone: LOL. I’ve been reading this site for several years, Mr. Codone, and yours is the very first PRO-Catholic church post I’ve ever seen here! Perhaps it’s intended as satire?
gaym50ish
Father Bernard Lynch, a gay Catholic priest and author of “If it Wasn’t Love: Sex, Death and God,” estimated that half of all Catholic priests are gay. He was in a same-sex relationship for 14 years. The Reverend Donald Cozzens, a former seminary rector and author of “The Changing Face of the Priesthood,” said the estimates range from 25 to 50 percent.
German theologian and former Vatican official David Berger told a reporter for Stern, a German magazine, that more than half of working priests are gay, and that it’s tolerated even within the Vatican walls. “You can have gay sex, but in public you must remain true to the Church’s principles and never talk about it,” he said.
The problem is that men are becoming priests for the wrong reasons. The church’s condemnation of homosexuality and the vow of chastity work hand in hand to assure that many men who choose the priesthood do it as an act of self-denial because they’re gay. The church has taught them that homosexuality is evil, and so the most devout among them believe they can never act on their sexual feelings. The only answer for them, they think, is a life of chastity and service to God.
Former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey wrote in his book, “The Confession,” that he was aware of his true sexual orientation at an early age and did everything he could to overcome it, including marrying twice. He told New York Post reporter Dan Mangan that he considered entering the Catholic priesthood because he hoped a vow of chastity would solve his “dilemma.”
Many priests, however, discover that it’s nearly impossible for a healthy, horny man to exist for a lifetime without sex.
john.k
@gaym50ish: I think another factor, especially in the Ireland of the 40s, 50s and 60s, but probably elsewhere as well, was that for gay men joining the priesthood was a neat way of avoiding social pressures to get married.
Although the official teaching of the Catholic church is that gay sex is sinful (as indeed is heterosexual sex outside of marriage) many individual priests take a much more sympathetic and forgiving approach. A friend of mine died some years ago. Two priests concelebrated his funeral mass. They did not try to hide that he had been in a relationship with a man and referred movingly to the love the two had shared.
gayjim1969
@gaym50ish: Unfortunately, the Catholic church isn’t the only misguided religious institution preaching celibacy as the only acceptable life-choice for gay people. Jehovah’s Witnesses also teach that God (Jehovah) requires life-long celibacy of gay men and lesbians.
LucasEller
It is sad that there are priests in the world, perhaps it’s a choice made at a younger age before men realize how terrible life without sex is. No matter what one’s profession is, everyone needs sex. And it’s absolutely mean that some bitch decides to denounce the priest, so unnecessary.
Tait47
I hope the guy who was on Grindr looking for hook ups and outing others get his just rewards.