Get ready, all you Catholics out there, for the first app to receive an imprimatur… Confession: A Roman Catholic App. I was a bit skeptical at first, thinking “Now how in blue blazes is it even a good idea, let alone approved by a bishop, for an iPhone or iPad to hear my confession? No freakin’ way!” Well, it doesn’t hear your confession… it provides a set of questions and some guidance to help you through an examination of conscience, which is how we prepare to make a confession to a priest. It’s actually very mpressive… it was co-developed by Fr. Thomas Weinandy, OFM, who is a very astute theologian as well as the Executive Director of the Secretariat for Doctrine and Pastoral Practices of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. I read one of his books for a class I took on the One, Creator God at the Dominican School in Berkeley.
This is appearing on iTunes just before the season of Lent, which begins in March, so the timing is very good. It has also enticed me to write an essay on the topic of confession and how the Eucharist is really the source and root of the Rite of Reconciliation, (known in the old days as “Confession”). I think that will be the topic of my next post…
