A society in Cologne, Germany, has released a "Confession by Computer" disc, with a menu of the two hundred most common sins and a separate program that allows users to customize the sins to which they will confess. As soon as the sin is selected on the basis of the Ten Commandments, the appropriate penance is doled out (as well as a link to online priests). Clearly not amused, the German Conference of Bishops immediately condemned the disc.
But it doesn't stop there. Rev. David E. Courter of the Independent Catholic Church International claims he will soon say Mass online, as well as allow people to take Communion via the Internet by placing unleavened bread in front of their monitors.
Marketed by the Lazarus Society, which describes itself as an ecumenical humanitarian organization, the disc sells for $52, a percentage of which goes to charity.
The society says that the disc is not a replacement for personal experiences in the confessional, but this has not alleviated the concerns of the Roman Catholic Church.
Stranger than Fiction Magazine is your premier source for tales of the bizarre and extraordinary. Published quarterly. Established 2004.
Summer 2004 issue (here)
