New Catholic ‘Go’ App Locates Nearest Priest for Confession
[New Catholic ‘Go’ App Locates Nearest Priest for
Confession by Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.]
"The Catholic Church has launched a new smartphone app helping sinners find the
nearest available priest “in real time” to hear their confessions.
The brainchild of Spanish priest Father Ricardo
Latorre, ‘Confesor GO’ locates the user’s global position and cross-references
the data with all available priests using the app. A list of available
confessors appears on the screen in order of proximity to the user.
The faithful who wish to go to confession also have
access to the priests’ names, ages and date of ordination to help in the
selection process. Since the confessions may take place either in churches or in
open public places, like “on the street, at a park or in a plaza,” a picture of
the priest can also be displayed for quick recognition.
Once a user chooses a priest, the app shows the
distance separating the two, as well as the shortest route to get to the
confession place.
The beta version of the app has already been
downloaded several thousand times, and the official version became available for
free on December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. In the first few
days after the launch, over 100 clerics across Spain signed up to be available
for confessions.
Though originating on the Iberian peninsula,
developers promise that it covers “all countries in the world where there is a
priest willing to listen to confessions and actively associated with the
application.” They also invite more priests to sign up for the app, “so that
those who need to be reconciled with God may receive forgiveness and peace.”
The new initiative follows hot on the heels of a
similar app launched last month in Scotland allowing the faithful to find the
nearest Mass times or active confessional for the absolution of their sins.
Scottish Archbishop Leo Cushley came to Rome to
announce the launch of “The Catholic App” outside Saint Peter’s Basilica in the
Vatican, accompanied by pilgrims and seminarians from his archdiocese and
serenaded by Scottish bagpipes.
The Catholic app was dubbed “Sindr” after the popular
Tinder dating app, and allows users to scroll through parishes in the area to
find schedules of Masses, Confessions or even Eucharistic adoration..." Full
text:
New Catholic ‘Go’ App Locates Nearest Priest for Confession
Jud 11
See:
No Mediator