iPhone Confessions

A few weeks ago I blogged about an iPhone app called Penance. Now a new app has hit the market called Confession: A Roman Catholic App and this one comes with the blessing of the church, or so its creators claim.

Confession is described on the iTunes site as follows:

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.

The text of this app was developed in collaboration with Rev. Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM, Executive Director of the Secretariat for Doctrine and Pastoral Practices of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Rev. Dan Scheidt, pastor of Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Mishawaka, IN. The app received an imprimatur from Bishop Kevin C. Rhodes of the Diocese of Fort Wayne – South Bend. It is the first known imprimatur to be given for an iPhone/iPad app.

- Custom examination of Conscience based upon age, sex, and vocation (single, married, priest, or religious)
- Multiple user support with password protected accounts
- Ability to add sins not listed in standard examination of conscience
- Confession walkthrough including time of last confession in days, weeks, months, and years
- Choose from 7 different acts of contrition
- Custom interface for iPad
- Full retina display support

The Confession app could be seen as a serious attempt to take up Pope Benedict’s challenge for Christians to embrace all things digital. However, it could be just one more product jumping on the burgeoning market in products encouraging people to bare their souls for the purposes of entertainment. There are a variety of these products available from the iTunes app store including iConfess and Confession Booth.

I welcome anything that helps people in their Christian discipleship, my Bible apps are a must on my Blackberry, and there are plenty of useful resources out there. I do hope the Confession App doesn’t treat faith and spirituality as a game and I will watch the reviews with interest. I confess I’m not tempted to part with $1.99 to find out more and not just because I don’t have an iPhone.

For some really useful resources why not check out Big Bible and Biblefresh. One of my favourite and most used applications is You Version.

Update: One of the developers of Confession has been in touch to leave the following comment for which I am grateful:

I'm one of the developers of the app. Thanks for not assuming things about the app (as I've seen happen on my twitter feeds). The app is not a joke, but is meant to truly help individual reflect on their life. Nothing is ever shared or transmitted from the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch. All user info is password protected and once a person walks their way through the confession all of the sins are erased. Let me know if you have other questions.

Penance for iPhone

No, this isn’t an invitation to confess your lust for all things Apple, it’s a new application for the iPhone. The new Penance app invites you to:

Anonymously confess your sins to other users of the app. Give and receive guidance on absolution. The more notable confessors are ranked on a league table, with the foremost being rewarded with titles and the right to issue week-long edicts to the faithful.

A review of the app informs us:

Penance differs from other confession apps in that it is structured to create a self-sustaining community rather than be a simple whiteboard for posting confessions.

With Penance, a user will download the app and create Sinner and Saint accounts, credited with five ‘horns’ and five ‘halos’ respectively. A horn allows a Sinner account to make a confession, which is randomly sent out to a dozen Saint accounts who can send back a penance at the cost of a halo. If the Sinner accepts the penance as fair and manageable the Saint is rewarded with TWO halos. The highest ranked Saints are rewarded with titles and may issue edicts to all the Faithful underneath them.

To keep the confessions and penances flowing all users are gifted a horn and halo every Sabbath, though there is the option of using IAP to gain them faster.

I did notice that this app is restricted for download to users over the age of seventeen, which suggests the designers are anticipating some interesting confessions and warns that there will be ‘frequent/intense/mature/suggestive themes’. I think we can all see where this is going.

One thing the app has got right is that it is free. The good news is that we don’t need to to do penance to receive God’s forgiveness, nor do we need an iPhone, as the Bible reminds us:

If we claim that we're free of sin, we're only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won't let us down; he'll be true to himself. He'll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. 1 John 1:8,9 The Message

h/t @liminalspace