Catholic Church approves Confession app
Prepare to unburden your conscience with Confession: A Roman Catholic App. Sorry, you still have to go to a confessional for the real thing.
Get ready for the iPhone spiritual coach. The Catholic Church in the U.S. has approved an app that prepares Catholics for confession.
Confession: A Roman Catholic App is designed to make confession easier for Christians. Developer Little iApps bills it as "the perfect aid for every penitent."
It offers users a step-by-step guide to the Rite of Penance and is meant to be used in a church confessional. It's not a substitute for a priest.
Users create password-protected profiles and then go through a series of soul-searching questions related to the Ten Commandments. For the First Commandment, for example, the app asks, "Have I been involved with superstitious practices or have I been involved with the occult?"
The app was designed in collaboration with a Church official and approved by Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend as the first officially sanctioned iPhone/iPad app, according to Little iApps.
Confession also lets users create "custom examinations of conscience" and log "custom sins." It also coaches penitents on responses to a priest's exhortations such as "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good."
Prayers stored in the app include such classics as the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, and Hail Mary.
Confession: A Roman Catholic App is available for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch for $1.99 on iTunes. According to Chip Leinen of Little iApps, a portion of the revenues will go to two charities.
