Prepare for reconciliation on the go with mobile apps

Published: March 5, 2014

By Dwain Hebda
Associate Editor

CNS / Tony Gentile

A woman holds an iPhone with a confession application. A Vatican official said the app can help Catholics prepare for confession, as its developers in-tended, but that it cannot substitute for the sacramental encounter between a penitent and a priest.

CNS / Tony Gentile

There is no shortage of technology to help us in our daily lives and that includes our spiritual life. The following is a sample of some Catholic apps that are geared all or in part toward making a good confession.

LAUDATE: A popular, free app for all things Catholic, Laudate offers a comprehensive collection of prayers, readings and catechism. Click on the CONFESSION tab and choose a daily examination of conscience, which walks the user through interior reflection in gentle and easy-to-read text. Or, click CONFESSION APP and a checklist of questions appears to help you better examine your conscience. Available for Android on Google Play; for iPhone iPad, and iPod touch on iTunes.

CONFESSION: ROMAN CATHOLIC: This $1.99 app was developed in collaboration with Father Thomas Weinandy, OFM, executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat for Doctrine, and carries the imprimatur of Bishop Kevin C. Rhodes of the Diocese of Fort Wayne. It contains an examination of conscience feature that can be customized by age, sex and vocation, multiple user support with individual password-protected accounts, confession walkthroughs including last confession and six different Acts of Contrition. Available for Android on Google Play; for iPhone iPad, and iPod touch (iOS 5 or later) on iTunes.

CONFESSIT: A free app, this one focusing entirely on the sacrament of reconciliation. The EXAMINATION tab is a list of potential sins categorized by the Ten Commandments and precepts of the Church (“Was I jealous of something that belongs to someone else?” “Did I fail to fast on Ash Wednesday?”) Clicking on a sin adds it to a SINS tab for reference during confession; the WALKTHROUGH tab provides a step-by-step cribsheet of the rite, including an Act of Contrition and automatically inserting the sins from your list at the appropriate spot. Android only, available on Google Play.

THE CONFESSION APP: In addition to selecting common sins categorized according to the Ten Commandments, this 99-cent app allows the user to type in additional sins. The sins are transferred to the GO TO CONFESSION tab that is your script for receiving the sacrament. Data is stored in the temporary cache of the device, not the phone’s memory or Internet and are therefore wiped clean with the push of a button after confession. Other included resources are a history of the sacrament and relevant Scripture and catechism references. Android only, available on Google Play.

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