A similar application is also available on Android devices. It helps prepare users for confession by helping with an examination of conscience and common prayers. It is available on the Android Market by searching for “penance” or “penanceproject”. Users can also get it online here: http://www.thepenanceproject.org/App.aspx

I like the app button.  Not that sins are good in any way but the wings with the heart and cross is a little bit rock n roll.  Maybe kids will see it and be intrigued to use it?!  The downside tho is that it has a $1.99 pricetag (I am cheap right?!) whereas most apps come in at .99 cents.  I might whine more if it weren’t made by priests which come to think of it gives it a unique perspective and hope for significant improvements.  I am truly excited about this app!!!

There are probably dozens or more Examinations of Conscience available on the Internet.  But if these I Phone applications (I have no idea what an I phone is or does) help get people back into the confession box, I’m all for it.

I would just warn penitents:  Don’t start making lists of your sins unless you have a foolproof method of deleting them.  And eat the list once you have received your absolution. 

Note to the scrupulous:  Don’t keep copies to make sure that all of your sins got mentioned.  If you have made an honest confession, all of your sins, even those forgotten in the moment, have been forgiven.

But if all of a sudden you realized that you had forgotten to mention a murder you had committed, it would be advisable to make no list and return to confession.

Another note to penitents…  the more efficacious and appropriate practice of Examine is not merely a “listing of sins”.  I recommend a book:  The Examen Prayer - by Rev. Timothy Gallagher - based on St. Ignatius of Loyola’s spiritual exercises.  A method that focuses foremost on (1) being first aware of God’s love and presence, (2) noting God’s blessings of the day, (3) seeking God’s grace to illumine and make fruitful the examine beyond human limits, (4) reviewing thoughts, words and deeds of the day that have not been of God, (5) seeking God’s healing, mercy and forgiveness, (6) looking forward then to the next day (a plan) for renewal and virtue, and (7) a prayer of thanksgiving.  Done well this can take several minutes of meditation.  The fruit of this practice is greater awareness of God and self as well as growth since a deeper probing of the essence of sin and it’s causes emerges.  Most importantly, one grows in love and relationship with God, the ultimate end of examine and penance.

The examan may be a wonderful exercise, but not necessarily if it had been a long time since your last confession.  There is such a thing as sin and Mortal Sins need to be confessed.

Thank you, Tim, for reviewing our app.  As one of the developers for this app, I just want to point out a few things for clarification.  Although the actual examination of conscience items were written by priests, the actual application was not written by priests.  It was written by 3 married men who all have a love of their Church and a love for technology.  We wrote it because it was something that we wanted to help us in our spiritual life.

Also, I want to make sure that everyone knows that as you use this app, it will automatically delete any sins that are checked off when you are finished with confession.  All of the checkmarks is completely wiped away just like the actual sacrament washes them away. 

Thanks for checking out our app, and if you have any issues or suggestions we would love to hear them.  http://www.littleiapps.com

I appreciate this App and certainly hope it will help people, but I wonder whether an imprimatur is really appropriate. Media such as an iPhone App or a Web site are subject to frequent change, and the process of review for an imprimatur can only consider their content at one particular moment in time. Imprimatur (“let it be printed”) almost sounds like a protest against the chosen form of publication.

It should also be noted that the Apps Confession and Mea Culpa were preceded by iConfess, which was featured in a 2009 YouTube spoof of the “There’s an App for that” commercial.

I am a former Special Agent of the FBI and an Open Source Intelligence Analyst with 20 years experience.  I have no personal knowledge regarding this app or the people who made it, but I do recognize some Constitutional issues based on my knowledge of the technical capabilities inherent in a cell telephone (iPhone, Android, whatever).

This app may violate the seal of the confessional because it is on a CELL PHONE that can transmit data to a remote location, the user ennumerates their sins by check box, and to top it all off the user has to input a username and password to positively link the sins to themselves.

It is the equivalent of bugging a confessional - something the Supreme Court has ruled unconstitutional.  Who knows who owns the data in the app or just how the app gets the cellphone to operate?  It cannot be trusted. 

If the Church wants us to have a trusted ap for the examination of conscience that would be fine and the Vatican website should sell it to us and ensure that we don’t have to put usernames, passwords and check boxes.  There is no need for these extra features unless someone wants to know what it is you wish to confess.

John - we, the team that created the app, checked with our massive and very expensive law team and they said that the duty imposed by the seal ONLY applies to the priest, not to the person confessing or third parties privy to the confession.  WHEW!

I really appreciate this application and do feel it will help all of us. However, if you do not have an Ipad or Ipod you aren’t able to use it. How about an app that can be down loaded to an Apple Computer? You could reach quite a few of us with this down load.

I am a Roman Catholic Priest and when I first saw this on the web, I was concerned.  I wanted to write a comment on it but I had to buy it first.  I was appalled.  So I wrote back a comment that comes from the 1965s post-Vatican II ruling that stated:  The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments has made it clear THEN and renewed it with the advances in technology that confessions or penance via the Telephone or other ELECTRONIC MEDIA are absolutely invalid.  WHY?  Because of several reasons:  One is the matter of the seal of the Confessional.  But the most important reason is because of the matter of the Sacrament itself.  If you back to the Catechism, every Sacrament must have both MATTER & FORM.  The matter in the Sacrament of Penance is the “penitent” confessing their sins before a VALIDLY ORDAINED ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST in good standing either behind the screen or face to face in a Confessional; the MATTER is the preaching either touching the head or placing his hand over the head of the penitent and SAYING THE WORDS of ABSOLUTION.  NO PRIEST NO ABSOLUTION.  So you can with the IPAD all you want, but with out the priest in front of you, your “Ipad app” is all that it is, just another “ipad app.”  And as a Priest who would be hearing your Confession, I would be very worried that you would 1) let your ipad fall into the hands of someone who would see your sins; and 2) you’d be too involved in your ipad to really sense the celebration of the Sacrament.  Come on guys, just tell the priest its been a while and he’ll guide you through it.  That is his job.  :-)

Father, I don’t have the app myself (I don’t own an ipad, or ipod), however, I have researched it.  First, let me assure you that the app itself makes it clear to the user that it is NOT to be used in place of the in-person sacrament.  It is merely a tool to aid the penitent to prepare for the sacrament.  I would compare it to using a pamphlet that guides the reader through an examination of conscience pared with a pen and paper that a penitent may use to write down their sins and take with them to the confessional (in addition to having the Act of Contrition readily available to read for those of us who aren’t very good at memorization) to ensure they don’t forget something they need to confess.  If it helps someone to prepare for this extremely important sacrament by having these resources combined in a mobile, electronic format, then I say go for it.  By the way. I have Catholic resource apps on my android based phone (including copies of both the RSV-CE2 on Kindle and the NAB included in an actual app) and they’ve been very useful for me. (It even sparks the attention of my sixth graders when I pull it out to look up a Bible passage during CCD/Religious Education class.)

God Bless

I can’t find the app on iTunes!! Of course, I’m new to all this, but I would like to see it. Can anyone help?  :o)