Confession: There's an iPhone App For That

slshwtw writes "Pope Benedict XVI has recently encouraged priests to blog and promoted Christian Netiquette. Now apparently the Roman Catholic church has sanctioned a 'Confession App,' available through iTunes for $1.99. Apparently it doesn't replace 'traditional,' in-person confession, but walks one through the process, even suggesting sins you may wish to confess."'

Comments

I want to see it..

[Anonymous Coward]

but walks one through the process, even suggesting sins you may wish to confess.

Like a checklist?

Have you sodomized a child? (Y/n)
Have you coveted your neighbour's wife? (Y/n)
Have you murdered an infidel? (Y/n)

Re:I want to see it..

[Anonymous Coward]

Like a pricelist?

Sodomized a child: $100
Coveted your neighbour's wife? $30
Murdered an infidel? $400 credit

Re:I want to see it..

[Ice Station Zebra]

I was so ugly when I was a kid, even the priest ignored me.

So...

[headkase]

How much different is this from the dystopia in THX-1138 where they have Automated Confession Booths?

It costs $1.99 to confess?

[MrEricSir]

Martin Luther is spinning in his grave.

Re:It costs $1.99 to confess?

[Intrepid imaginaut]

I'd have thought all the creationism would have done that. :p

Re:It costs $1.99 to confess?

[artor3]

You do realize that the Catholic Church probably doesn't care too much about what Martin Luther thinks, right?

Re:It costs $1.99 to confess?

[CharlyFoxtrot]

1) It's published by a private company, not the church
2) It got an imprimatur from the Vatican : "In the Catholic Church an imprimatur is an official declaration by a Church authority that a book or other printed work may be published." Basically just a label "this is OK."
3) The church teaches that absolution can only be given by God through a priest.

Let's not make this into something it's not.

Re:It costs $1.99 to confess?

[Firehed]

But /dev/null came with my system for free!

swimming in the clouds?

[bugi]

Is it a cloud app?

Enough with the bashing

[DudeTheMath]

Please, people. Ha, ha, funny. RTFA.

"[T]he new app doesn't replace traditional confession. You still have to go to a priest for absolution. ... It leads you through an 'Examination of Conscience' to help you figure out what your real sins are -- and not just by retreading your run of the mill 10 Commandments."

In sacramental preparation, Roman Catholics are taught to privately undertake an examination of conscience before entering the confessional. This is just, shall we say, an expert system for the process.

Re:Enough with the bashing

[matrixskp]

It's my 59 seconds, so yes.

G

It's my 59 seconds, so yes~

Fixed that for you.

If you're Catholic

[rsilvergun]

isn't an iPhone kinda incompatible with your religion? It's a large, unnecessary expenditure of money and resources when there are millions of poor. Plus it's a status symbol, and I'm pretty sure pride is a sin (correct me if I'm wrong, not a Catholic)...

It's like the guy in the $80,000 SUV with Jesus on his license plate. I think he's missing the point...

Re:If you're Catholic

[torstenvl]

My iPhone cost me $25 after trading in a used hand-me-down during a sale at RadioShack. Hardly a "large ... expenditure of money," unnecessary or not. And I don't see how it's a status symbol at all.

Re:If you're Catholic

[gmhowell]

Clever way of calling iPhone users idiots who couldn't possibly find utility in a particular device. Kudos on the subtle troll. Much better than comparing Jobs to the Pope. Or to Job.

Re:If you're Catholic

[DragonWriter]

[If you're Catholic] isn't an iPhone kinda incompatible with your religion?

No. A particular persons decision to purchase an iPhone given other uses of the money may or may not be prudent, and certainly might be influenced by any number of sins, but the iPhone isn't inherently incompatible with Catholicism.

It's a large, unnecessary expenditure of money and resources when there are millions of poor.

Catholic teaching does not prohibit purchasing expensive items which are not essential to survival.

Plus it's a status symbol

Purchasing an iPhone out of vanity would certainly be sinful, but the fact that society treats it as a status symbol does not make the device itself inherently sinful.

Re:If you're Catholic

[rsilvergun]

Yeah, but that's just the cost to you. There's a much larger societal cost to getting an iPhone to you. You're just not seeing that cost because it's heavily subsidized by your monthly bill from AT&T, plus reduced by cheap Chinese labor with no environmental regulations. There was just a story about Chinese business men not bringing factories to the US because, although they'd save a bundle on shipping, the cost of meeting our environmental regulations was too high. Plus there are stories of the Chinese not having enough water to cook & clean because so much is used in manufacturing electronics. Hell, Alaska is sending fresh water to China in oil tankers, kind of a scary thought since I like drinking water and I don't want to compete with 3 billion Chinese for it...

Anyway, sorry to ramble, but there are a lot of costs and consequences to an iPhone that we don't take into account.

Re:If you're Catholic

[Xacid]

Wait, did I just read that? So we're both giving them jobs and letting them starve?

Re:If you're Catholic

[Permutation Citizen]

Being Catholic means to follow orders from Vatican. Reading the bible and trying to interpret yourself what Jesus told, this is a dangerous protestant behavior.

You have achieved ...

[David Gerard]

... a new high score!!!

Re:Now we just need the Church of Satan app

[gmhowell]

Any guesses on how long before we see an Church of Satan app. I look forward to confessing the sins of the Slashdot editors.

It's for iPhones. To listern to the detractors, the OS itself is a Church of Satan app.

Re:I wonder..

[sznupi]

So it's just a digital version of those little books with portions of catechism, prayers, checklists for sacraments (for example - confession), etc.? Plus a notepad? (even safer, actually!) Not much of news...

Profit?

[samos69]

1. Write confession app
2. collect confessions + phone number / email address
3. ????
4. Profit!

Sanctioned how?

[l00sr]

I see nothing in the article to support the claim that this app has been sanctioned by the Catholic Church, besides the fact the author seems to be a priest, and seems to like it. This is an app developed by a private company with no official connection to the Church (and a horribly broken website, to boot).

Re:Now we just need the Church of Satan app

[shutdown -p now]

The CoS app for iPhone was "I'm rich".

Re:Does it include pedophilia on the confession li

[retchdog]

this particular quarrel is not with the catholic church, but the apple church.

Feature request

[TekJannsen]

Seeing that it can help you find out how you've sinned, I'd like to see a penance calculator in the next version. For example: you could enter that you watched a naughty movie, and it would respond with 10 Hail Mary's per girl with a 5x multiplier per cup.

Recommendation system

[makubesu]

"Customers who confessed this sin also confessed..."

Heh

[Moraelin]

As I keep saying, if God didn't want me to covet my neighbour's ass, He wouldn't have given her such a magnificent ass ;)

Re:Heh

[alvinrod]

What the hell do you need a donkey for anyhow?

Re:Heh

[CharlyFoxtrot]

As I keep saying, if God didn't want me to covet my neighbour's ass, He wouldn't have given her such a magnificent ass ;)

You sure ? After all this is the guy who put a fruit tree in the middle of a garden and put a "do not eat" sign on it. He's a bit of dick like that.

Re:Heh

[aristotle-dude]

As I keep saying, if God didn't want me to covet my neighbour's ass, He wouldn't have given her such a magnificent ass ;)

You sure ? After all this is the guy who put a fruit tree in the middle of a garden and put a "do not eat" sign on it. He's a bit of dick like that.

Wow. Really? You have a pretty messed up view of god there pal. You also don't seem to believe in personal responsibility. Man was given a paradise to live in with all the food he could ever eat, immortality, a wife, the peace of mind of naivety with just one simple rule. Not 10 commandment but just one and man still had to screw that one up.

How that would go.

[six11]

I am the electrono-priest. Please, describe your problems. Each time
you are finished talking, type RET twice.

Forgive me father, for I have sinned.

Tell me something about your family.

They aren't talking to me anymore.

Why do you say they are not talking to you anymore?

Just what I said. They don't speak with me.

What makes you believe that?

Empirical evidence?

Maybe your plans have something to do with this.

What plans are you talking about? I didn't mention plans.

I don't understand.

That makes two of us.

Is it because makes two of us that you came to me?

Hey you're the priest. Who should I go to, Steve Jobs?

Earlier you said makes two of us?

You heard correctly.

Is it because of your life that you are going through all this?

Tautologically speaking, I suppose my life is the reason I'm going
through anything at all.

How do you reconcile the people you hang around with?

I pay them. Can we get to the bit about my sins please?

You mentioned that makes two of us?

Father are you brain damaged?

You seem to dwell on your family.

Who is that back there?

I'll ask the questions, if you don't mind!

Ezra is that you? Oh for Christ's sake.

Re:Now we just need the Church of Satan app

[pinkushun]

I heard the Church of Satan app will only run on the Windows mobile platform. Ohhh Well . . .