An app being developed in Scotland that is being tipped to become the first mobile phone application for finding nearby Catholic Masses and Confessions was launched in St Peter's Basilica this week.
Currently in the testing phase the mobile phone application - which has been nicknamed "the Catholic app" - is being developed by the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh in collaboration with Musemantik, a Scottish mobile technology company set up by a PhD graduate of the University of Edinburgh. The app, which will be launched in 2017 will use data from participating dioceses and a smartphone's embedded global positioning system (GPS) to display the nearest churches to a user's whereabouts and times of Masses. Advertised times for Confession will also be displayed using the new App.
Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews and Edinburgh, who launched the app at St Peter's Basilica, Rome, last Tuesday was welcomed by Monsignor Dario Viganó, Prefect of the Vatican’s recently established Secretariat for Communication.
Introducing the app to the sound of bagpipes, Cushley said that "a little bit of smart technology . . . could make a big impact on how the Catholic Church brings the mercy of God and the joy of the Gospel to our contemporary world."
Cushley was in Rome on pilgrimage to mark the end of the Jubilee Year of Mercy. He was accompanied in Rome by Lisa Maria Purdie, a primary school teacher from Livingston, West Lothian, and by Fr Jamie Boyle, a parish priest from Falkirk. Boyle said that during the Year of Mercy "there was a discernible upturn in the number of people keen to return to Confession but not sure where or when to find it." He pointed out that ] "people often prefer to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation to a priest they don’t know. Many folk travel to our bit, town centre parish to go to Confession, and so this app makes it much easier to find that anonymity, if you so choose".
Dr Maciej Zurawski, founder and CEO of Musemantik, pointed out that websites were losing popularity, particularly with the young, a view endorsed by Purdie. Zurawski said that what was needed to "engage with the mobile generation is an app that is smart and personal, app that is like a companion, a friend that takes the initiative to inspire you".
And the developers - who have also launched a Christian meditation app and one called Soulight, which uses music to enhance mood - are urging Catholics to petition their diocese to sign up to the app so that their Mass and Confession times can be made available to the mobile public when the app is launched next year.
"[If you are] a Catholic and want this app now you should find the name and contact details of your dioceses and ask them to express their interest by using the sign-up on our website [see below]. Then you can also sign up as an individual, but the dioceses must get in touch before we can launch it in your territory," a spokesman for Musemantik said.
The official website for the app is thecatholicapp.com.
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