Terry Mattingly on the iConfession app:
For generations, Catholics carried these simple leaflets inside their handbags or wallets, short texts topped with titles such as “A Guide For Confession” or “A Personal Examination of the Conscience.” (…)
That was then.
In recent weeks waves of Catholics, along with curious members of other flocks, have downloaded a new “Confession” app for iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices that combines private journaling, spiritual readings and traditional pre-confession leaflets into one password-protected digital package. Why carry scribbled notes into confession when for $1.99 one can work through the rite while being bathed in the cool blue glow that is the symbol of the social-networking age?
Scribes in newsrooms around the world sprang into action.
“Bless me father for I have sinned. It has been 300 tweets since my last confession,” noted CNN.
In London, The Times opened its story by claiming: “Roman Catholic bishops have approved a new iPhone and iPad app that allows users to make confession with a virtual ‘priest’ over the Internet.”
The Economic Times report was even more blunt. The headline noted, “No time to visit church? Confess via iPhone.” (…)
The problem is that these statements were just plain wrong.
