Announcement: The All New “My Confessor App” – My Gift to You!!
Announcing the all new “My Confessor App”
Sunday is my 60th Birthday. I am proud to say that I share my birthday with St. John the Baptist. My Coat of Arms reflects my desire, as well as my desire for all, to totally surrender to God and to live “in sync” with Him in a state of grace: The Latin on my Coat of Arms is from St. John the Baptist and is translated: “He must increase, I must decrease.”
The all new My Confessor App is my gift to all of you, who I love so much. I used my own money to create this app, and I am making the app free to all. Also, please notify your priest to become a “My Confessor Priest.” This is free for priests to use too.
I am not joking when I say that I almost panic when people, without the armor of a “state of grace,” are in grave danger as Satan now has “easy access” to cause chaos and all sorts of harm to them. I truly yearn to keep you safe and at peace under the armor of grace.
The My Confessor App is a way to find an available priest for confession (You cannot “go to” Confession on this app, but just find a priest, and then you go to him). Also, a guide to examine your conscience, and a guide for making a good confession. All in one simple app. Even if a priest is not using it in your area, you’ll want to use this app to examine your conscience and guide your Confession (with the Act of Contrition that many have not yet memorized).
Download from Google Play here: MyConfessorforAndroid
Download from the Apple Store here: MyConfessorforiPhone
You can also go here to download it: MyConfessor.org
How the App Works: Very simply, this app allows the faithful to easily discover if their priest, or another priest in their area, is available to hear their Confession.
Priest Availability: The little light bulb shows the priest is available for confession. Also, the priest indicates how long he will be available, and he can leave a message.
Guide to Confession: The app also shows the Manner of Making a Confession (the “how to” for going to Confession). Also includes the Act of Contrition.
Examination of Conscience: There is a page for making an examination of conscience. When you tap the sin, it lights up, to remind you when you go to Confession. When you are confessing, you can tap each “lit up sin” and it will no longer be lit.
Find a Priest: A google map shows all priests who are using this app. Also, the faithful have the ability to make their priest their “default priest” on this app.
Available to All Priests: Priests may contact Fr. Heilman to become a “My Confessor App” priest, allowing the faithful to know when he is available for Confession. Go to MyConfessor.org for more information. Be sure to tell your priest about this, so he can be a “My Confessor Priest.”
The App Design
I love the design of the app, especially because I love the painting by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo entitled, “The Return of the Prodigal Son.” In fact, I hung a copy of that painting in our new Confessional over in Church. As you can see, the Father is embracing the son who has returned. One of my favorite parts of the story is that “the Father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him” -Luke 15:20. The Father was looking on the horizon every moment of every day hoping *this day* would be the day he saw his son return home again. That’s what our Father in Heaven does when we stray … he hopes we choose to come home again to His embrace. Then the son thinks he is “forever garbage,” never again worthy to be called his son. The Father will hear nothing of it … “get the robe, the ring and the sandals” (all signs of being completely restored as his prince), and then they had a party, like one would hold for dignitaries. WOW!! (check out the little dog–he’s happy he is home too).
Why Did I Create This App?
I believe we are living in times when secularism – inside and outside the Church – has taken a devastating toll on our people and the world. I wrote about it HERE. Suffice it to say that spiritual warfare will always be with us, and evil seems to be running unabated in our times. Why? Because the vast majority of us are, what I call, “Naked on the battlefield.” No Grace! So, no spiritual armor and no spiritual weapons to stand against the power of evil. Unless there is some worldwide effort to reconnect to the Divine Life of God – a brand new awakening in the power of supernatural grace – we are totally defenseless to this onslaught! So, if someone’s armor is diminished by a collection of venial sins, or lost completely by mortal sin, I want to provide an easy and accessible way to get them armed and ready for battle again.
Also, I pray doing something like this app has the effect of stressing the importance of this Sacrament of Mercy. Many speak of the phenomenon of Confession offered for 30 minutes, once a week, as actually making a statement as to its importance (or lack thereof). But, I have also heard countless stories of parishes where, once more Confession times were offered, many began to understand the importance of Confession, and started going again.
Finally, I did this for simply logistical reasons. I think when people read in their bulletin that Confessions are available by appointment, many feel uncomfortable “bothering” the “busy” priest, and so very few, if any, call for an appointment. By providing a way for them to simply check my availability on an app, I am hopeful this will make the Sacrament accessible to many more people.
My Gift to You
As I said, The My Confessor App is my gift to all of you who I love so much. I used my own money to create this app, and I am making the app free to all. But, if you feel inspired, please make a donation to my parish (HERE).
Stay safe! Stay strong! And GO TO CONFESSION (frequently!!)
