I think we’re familiar with the idea that there’s an app for pretty much everything. So this Confessions app (“the perfect aid for every penitent”) isn’t that surprising. Nor is its endorsement by the Roman Catholic Church.
It is useful to make a more general point, though: It’s now very, very easy to translate ideas from channel to channel. We can re-imagine anything in new, multiple forms. (I almost said ‘transmedia’ then but I stopped myself)
But when the answer to “can we?” is almost always ‘yes’, the more important questions become “should we?” and “if so, how?”
I’m not going to debate the value of this app to a Catholic person. I’m not religious. But I am going to debate the translation of complex rituals from one format to another.
Logic tells you an app like this is makes perfect sense. Confession, when broken down mechanically, is the sharing of a sin that is in turn absolved by a priest. So, documenting one’s sins in an app – and perhaps sharing them with a priest digitally(?) could, in theory fulfill a similar objective.
The problem is, you can’t break this process down mechanically, because it’s not a mechanical experience. It’s a deeply human one.
The app provoked this response on engadget from a Roman Catholic:
“I find this app absolutely appalling! Where are we headed? Will our avatar take our place in hell? When Catholics get too lazy to reconcile with the Lord, the Sacrament loses its power. Will we next have an app for someone say our prayers for us, too?”
Human behaviour and experience is affected and shaped by myriad factors. If the environment, the tools, the interactions are changed, then the experience is different. And in some cases (above) can alienate/anger people.
This is an important point that anyone working in our field (marketing, not religion) should take note of. Channels are not empty vessels to fill with old meaning. They come with their own meanings – and these meanings skew anything that comes into contact with them. You have to respect both the rituals and connotations of the thing you’re translating and the ones associated with the new medium. This stuff is complex and no matter how many times you simplify it for ease of explanation, the development of these experiences is an art form to be taken seriously. You’re engineering new rituals not just new apps.
A thoughtful comment on the same engadget post reminds us of just some of these complexities:
“all the app actually does is enable a person to be fully prepared for the sacrament of confession. In order to make a good confession, one needs to bear in mind all their transgressions since their last confession. This is a way of keeping “inventory” of ones sins. It is not at all intended to replace a Priest/Confessor.”
And the same person notes that non-believers have their own rituals in their judgement of the app too:
“It is interesting to me that so many folks see this as a way of avoiding the confessional or even worse…a new way for the church to make money”
It comes down to respect. Respect the medium, respect the user, respect rituals and respect the possibility of change. Just don’t be a dick.
