"My Confession..." Part 2

So here is the test! As I discussed in my last post, I've downloaded the iPad Confession app, and I am going to give it a whirl. No, I'm not Catholic so this is new territory. I am hoping to discover how intuitive this is, so my apologies to my Catholic friends if I appear clueless...(more so than usual.)

Step 1: Add new user - Name, Sex, Birthday, Vocation, Last Confession (umm...), Password.
(Apparently vocation means: single, married, priest or religious [order]. ) Here goes...am I going to get Vatican spam now?

Step 2: Select 'Act of Contrition'???? ummm, ok 'default act of contrition.' I'm not sure what I just agreed to here, but I'll go with this.

Step 3: Examination of Conscience - Here I have a list of the Ten Commandments, Responsibilities to God and Responsibilities to Other.

Oops, it logged me out, and won't let me back in... I had to recreate my profile. It seems to bump you out from time to time.

Step 3 (second try): Ok, I've selected the 10th commandment "You shall not covet your neighbor's goods." The Lotto is $50,000,000 this week; so coveting is realistic. Now there is a set of five questions, from the generic: "Am I jealous of what other people have?" to the more pointed "do I not trust God to provide for my material needs?" I like that; it is thought provoking. I also have space to add my own reflective questions. What should I ask myself? Hmmm....

Step 4: Begin confession "In the name...." There is a warning here "This app is intended to be used during the Sacrament of Penance with a Catholic priest only. This is not a substitute for a valid confession." I wonder if this notice was a later addition? Click next...

Step 5: My list of sins.... (general categories not specifics...that would be a security nightmare!)

Step 6: Act of Contrition; the prayer of confession. Next.

Step 7: A text box: "Receive absolution and respond 'Amen'. If the Priest says, 'Give thanks to the Lord for He is good.' answer 'His mercy endures forever.'"

All done. It will remember my last confession next time I log in.

Interesting experience; it is not a replacement for confession, but it does lead one to reflect and prepare. It is not entirely intuitive; it assumes you have gone through Catechism classes and been Confirmed. I can see why many would download it, but will many actually use it. I doubt it. But it is an interesting reflective tool, in an age when moral self-reflection is out of vogue.

It seemed appropriate to end on a worshipful note here with an ancient Irish hymn common to all branches of Christendom: "Be Thou My Vision."

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