“App” is short for application — computer software that helps a user perform a specific task on a smartphone or tablet. In this case, the app would allow users access to one of the many books written by the Green Bay auxiliary bishop and pastor of Resurrection Parish in Allouez.
After learning what an app is, Bishop Morneau said, “It’s great that the book is available as an app. One of the benefits of modern technology is to have it available in that form. Technology can be a great blessing and it can be a curse. This is an example of it being a blessing.”
It’s said that those born after 1980 are digital natives and those born before then are digital immigrants, Bishop Morneau said in explaining his lack of understanding about the world of apps. “I am definitely a digital immigrant in a foreign country, in a foreign world.”
Originally, the app was going to be available on Android devices and the iPad and iPhone but Liturgical Press, publishers of the book and app, said on its website that Apple “refused to publish the popular ‘Not by Bread Alone’ app, claiming that it lacked the functionality and interaction they now require for iOS apps.”
Liturgical Press disagrees with the verdict and encourages those who are “disappointed by this news … to provide feedback directly to Apple, Inc. at: 1-800-my-apple.”
The app includes the current day’s readings, a reflection by Bishop Morneau and the ability to go to any other day in the Lenten season and to change the type size. It also allows users to share the daily readings with friends through email.
The app sells for 99 cents. Liturgical Press has a direct link to the app from its website, www.litpress.org.
