Who needs a confession booth when you have an iPhone ?
An iPhone app aimed at helping Catholics through confession and encouraging lapsed followers back to the faith has been sanctioned by the Catholic Church in the United States.Confession: A Roman Catholic app, thought to be the first to be approved by a church authority, walks Catholics through the sacrament and contains what the company behind the program describes as a “personalized examination of conscience for each user”.
The Anchoress notes that the app has not been approved by the Vatican, only given an imprimatur by Bishop Kevin Rhoades, of the Diocese of Fort Wayne in Indiana.
As a Baptist I only recognize two sacraments—baptism and communion—but I’m firmly against having either of them administered by smartphone (immersion baptism and iPhones definitely don’t mix).
Do Catholics feel differently about confession? Does this Confession app seem like a wise application of a sacrament?
UPDATE: Numerous readers have pointed out that the application is merely a tool for the examination of the conscience and not an administration of the sacrament.
