From ABC Online Friday 4 February 2011

Confession app gets church's blessing

The Catholic Church has given the thumbs up to an iPhone application called Confession.

The app was developed by a US technology company and takes information from the user like age, gender and time elapsed since their last confession to create a personalised "examination of conscience".

The director of communications at the Archdiocese of Sydney, Katrina Lee, says it is a great way of getting young people back and involved in the church.

"Anything that can interest and perhaps bring young people back to the church or be asking questions about it or getting information that is correct and anything they might need to know - I think it's a great idea," she said.

Ms Lee says the application is meant as an aid to confession, and not a replacement for a priest.

"There are going to be people that might not see this as the best way to go as far as technology is concerned," she said.

"But then again, if it provides a service for another group of people, and it helps them, well that's got to be seen as something that's a good thing."