Like God, technology is everywhere.
Unlike God, it can’t forgive sins.
Technology recently entered the confessional box as a $1.99 iPhone app that helps Catholics catalog their transgressions.
It even had the church’s blessing. But some app users are in error about how far it goes.
“Confession: A Roman Catholic App” has won official approval from Denver to the Vatican. Yet feedback over the past week has given priests cause to hit pause.
More than a few Catholics believe their iPhone can now forgive their sins.
“This is not confession over the phone,” said the Rev. Michael Warren, assistant pastor of Holy Ghost Church in Denver. “I’ve already talked to several people who think it is.
“But no tool can ever replace an awareness of being in the presence of God himself . . . through prayer or the sacraments.”
The app is meant to facilitate the examination of conscience.
The pope has encouraged this kind of theology through technology.
Beginning last year, and re-emphasizing it in a world address Jan. 24, Pope Benedict XVI has asked priests to show people the face of Christ in the digital world.
But the Vatican, alerted that some people are confusing the app for something that could absolve them, issued a statement late last week.
“It is essential to understand well (that) the sacrament of penitence requires the personal dialogue between the penitent and the confessor (priest) and the absolution by the confessor,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said. “This cannot in any way be replaced by a technology application.”
Warren said he’s not aware of anyone already using the confession app at Holy Ghost , but he has heard several Catholics talk about it with interest.
“They want to try it,” Warren said. “People often come to confession with lists. Some come in a little less prepared because of their busy lives. But a detailed and structured examination of conscience is beneficial. God is personal and particular. It helps one look to the cause of their sins if they are specific about them.”
And the iPhone can come right into the confessional, said Warren, who doesn’t own a smartphone.
“Anything that prompts people to think about confession again — and to really believe and trust in the mercy available to them — is a good thing,” he said.
Electa Draper: 303-954-1276 or edraper@denverpost.com
