No Substitute: iPhone App For Catholics only Aids in Confession

Many in the media got it wrong - its not virtual confession

As their website states, "Designed to be used in the confessional, this app is the perfect aid for every penitent. With a personalized examination of conscience for each user, password protected profiles, and a step-by-step guide to the sacrament, this app invites Catholics to prayerfully prepare for and participate in the Rite of Penance. Individuals who have been away from the sacrament for some time will find Confession: A Roman Catholic App to be a useful and inviting tool."

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - The iPhone program, Confession: A Roman Catholic App, has captured the attention of the media this week as the Church has given her first imprimatur to a Smartphone application. The app, developed by Little iApps, LLC, South Bend, IN to assist Catholics in making confession simpler and easier.

Unfortunately, many in the media chose the "ready, shoot, aim" mode of operation in describing the function of the app. Bill Donohue, of the Catholic League wrote an excellent piece on this called "Bogus Claims on the iPhone App," where he showed the titles of some of these irresponsible pieces.

Some of the titles were:
- "Can't Make it to Confession? There's an App for That"
- "Catholic Church Approves Confession by iPhone"
- "Bless Me iPhone for I Have Sinned"
- "Catholic Church Endorses App for Sinning iPhone Users"
- "US Bishop Sanctions Cell Phone in Confession"
- "Forgiveness via iPhone: Church Approves Confession App"
- "New, Church-Approved iPhone Offers Confession On the Go"
- "Confess Your Sins to a Phone in Catholic Church Endorsed App"
- "Catholics Can Now Confess Using iPhone App"
- "Catholic Church Approves Online Confession"

Journalists can do better than this; for example, simply fact-checking the article! Just checking the Little iApps website, the information on the home page is enough to clarify how the app is to be used.

The Holy See responded to the rumor mill very quickly as Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, stated, "An iPhone application that aids in confession preparation is not a substitute for the personal dialogue between the priest and the penitent required for the sacrament.

"This cannot be substituted by any information technology application in no way can one speak of 'confession through the iPhone.'"

The app's developer also weighed in on this. Patrick Leinin, developer and co-founder of Little iApps, told Zenit News that the team that created this application is in "100% agreement with Father Lombardi."

"The app is intended to help a person prepare for the sacrament of Confession," he stated. "It is not intended to function as a replacement for confession!"

As their website states, "Designed to be used in the confessional, this app is the perfect aid for every penitent. With a personalized examination of conscience for each user, password protected profiles, and a step-by-step guide to the sacrament, this app invites Catholics to prayerfully prepare for and participate in the Rite of Penance. Individuals who have been away from the sacrament for some time will find Confession: A Roman Catholic App to be a useful and inviting tool."

While the internet has no such demands as press deadlines, some journalists were eager to jump on the bandwagon highlighting yet another "scandal" in the Church, when none really existed.

When you first open the iPhone app, Confession, you are asked for your personal information - name, age, vocation (single, married, clergy or religious), gender and password. This information is now stored safely and will be used to form your examination. You then are taken through your examination based on the ten commandments.

As a Catholic and even during my days in the Charismatic Episcopal Church I took a piece of paper with me where I listed the things to be confessed so I wouldn't forget. The fact that this information, based on a guided examination of conscience, is available from my iPhone is a wonderful way of maintaining a life of penance.

"Confession," not the only app designed to assist people preparing for confession. Two others, iConfess and Mea Culpa, are both in the App Store. What's different here is that Confession has received an Imprimatur of Bishop Kevin Rhodes, the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend and the Nihil Obstat from The Reverend Monsignor Michael Heintz, Ph.D., Rector of the Cathedral. This is big news as it means you can trust this examination for use in this most important sacrament.

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online and the CEO/Associate Publisher for the Northern Virginia Local Edition of Catholic Online (http://virginia.catholic.org). He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church. He is also a big iPhone fan.

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