TheTornadoTimes

Forgive me iPhone for I have sinned; my last confession was 700 Facebook notifications ago…Yes, you heard that right, iPhone, not father.

The Catholic Church recently approved of a confession app for the ever so sophisticated and apparently “holy” iPhone.

The app is a way to track your sins, and to let you reflect on these sins by referring to bible passages or the ten commandments and explain why you have sinned.

The sacrament of penance, or confession, is a Catholic practice to expunge sins. Confessions are administered by a priest under a vow of secrecy, who have the authority of absolution, or divine forgiveness.

Although not seen as an alternative to a real confession, the app still demeans the Catholic tradition.

It already seemed easy to ask for forgiveness, but now, it is more convenient—you can evaluate how deeply you are sinning while simultaneously copying your friend’s AP Statistics homework.

This new idea makes confession a game, as we can now use our little gadgets to keep track of all our sins. Instead of a “get out of jail free” card, you can now “get out of sins free,” every time you steal someone’s Wi-Fi or covet someone’s new MacBook. Every time you commit a real sin, your trusty iPhone will be there to lead you down the righteous path.

The fact that the Catholic Church wants people to use it to examine their sins eliminates the need to go to confession. Believe it or not, there was a time when smart phones and iPads were not needed to remind people of their offenses.

Although it serves a noble purpose, the app removes the very nature of confession. Yes, it is a way of modernizing the church and reaching the tech-savvy youth, but asking for forgiveness from an app is clearly not the same as confessing to an ordained priest.

I mean what’s next, an app for holy matrimony so you can study your future relationship with your partner?