2.13.11 - For Catholics around the world, preparing for confession just got a little easier. A new app guides them in preparing for confessional. Designed by Little iApps, Confession: a Roman Catholic App, facilitates a "personalized examination of conscience" and a step-by-step guide to preparing for the Rite of Penance. The app is Vatican approved but Vatican Spokesman Fedrico Lombardi did clarify that the app is only a tool to help prepare for the sacrament "the rites of penance require a personal dialogue between penitents and their confessor. It cannot be replaced by a computer application." The hope is that the app will help active Catholics practice their faith, as well as bring non-active Catholics back to the Church. Like any development in the Catholic Church, this little tech revolution does not come without controversy. In an article in The Guardian, Jamie Doward and Gabriel Stargardter report on the response by LGBT advocates who refer to the app as "anti-gay spiritual abuse".
In any case, we here at Future-ish are eager to follow how faith, religion, and spirituality continue to progress, evolve, and adapt in the 21st century and beyond. You can follow this topic by clicking on the 'Future of Faith' label below.