As I’m sure many of you have heard, there’s now a brand new Confession App on the market for Roman Catholics — available for iPhone and iPod Touch for a very reasonable $1.99! Appararently it’s gotten the imprimatur from at least one Catholic Bishop, and I was surprised to learn that it was developed in conversation with Catholic theologian Thomas Weinandy.
What are the theological implications of this? I submit that it falsifies, in pretty much every way, John Milbank’s thesis about there being a Catholic “alternative” to modernity.
Tetzel rides again!
All they did is take fairly standard confessional manuals and turn them in to a checklist. It’s actually far less interesting than one might fear/hope. So if you think using a confessional manual is good, but using a confessional manual in which the text is represented on an LCD screen that fits in your pocket is bad, then I could see being upset with this.
In other words, it’s like saying Christianity is screwed because you can get the Bible on your iPhone.
Weren’t you the guy I remember saying that he wished the Bible had never even been translated into modern languages? :)
I’m still sympathetic to that position, if not totally wedded to it. I would include Latin as a modern language, as well. I think it would have been a better use of the premodern cultural momentum of Christianity if we had employed it as an excuse for Greek and Hebrew to be universally read. Shoot… might have even avoided the Great Schism and all of the problems Augustine caused with the East.
There’s obviously no getting that cat back in the bag, though. I am in favor of more draconian policing of ridiculous translations, however.
I think reading the Bible on an iPhone might be a problem…
http://news.change.org/stories/apple-admits-child-labor-sweatshops-used-to-build-iphones
(just to pick one sample article).
This is just indicative of how laughable pop catholicism has become.
The confession was always a joke any how.
There was never any rigorous moral demand to change ones actions and never do or commit whatever “sin” or “sins” one was confessing, again.
It was thus another device for letting people of the hook of being completely responsible for their presence and actions in the world.
Just as the doctrine of “original sin” does.
Honestly, it’s difficult to understand how what you are saying has anything to do with the facts here.
Prediction: The next innovation will be Mass via Skype. It would certainly do away with the need for costly church buildings.
The Pope has put the ban on the app. I suppose it will still appear in the app store. =P
I want an app for penance.
I could also go for one dispensing extreme unction.
I like this add on from the article:
“The sinful suggestions the app offers are inventive and even age appropriate.
An example given by iPhone is, “I think my cousin is hot, but I’d never go there because it’s socially unacceptable…” OK.”
I think the Vatican might want to hire a copywriter/editor (with a thorough Catholic education) to screen potential ‘priestly’ suggestions on the app confessional.
I was also wondering if the iPhone screen could show the inside of a confessional with the suggestion of a screened priest on the other side of the door…? And might we buy a pair of 3D glasses to increase the sense of reality?