The USCCB (United States Council of Catholic Bishops) have released an app for Catholics. The USCCB touts the application by saying, ” For the first time, the Catholic Church app from USCCB brings together parishes and (arch)dioceses across the United States—as well as the Vatican—into one, single mobile solution.”
They continue to say on the website that, ”
The App Features All This and More:
- Church finder by location, city, zip code
- Individual parish and diocesan pages
- Daily Scripture readings
- USCCB content integration
- English/Spanish capability
- News alerts, calls-to-action, events calendar”
The site goes to explain how it will have coverage of Pope Francis and how it is a trusted source for Catholic information. There is a presentation you can watch and another you can download regarding the app. A link is posted telling you how to can sign up and post information. However, what is lacking is information on how to get the application.
I found the application in the Google Play store, but it was not easy. I searched for the “Catholic Church Mobile App” and was given a large choice of apps that were developed by other parties. Finally after some scrolling, I did find an app called “USA Catholic Church” that was developed by the “US Conference of Catholic Bishops.” Further research revealed this was indeed the touted application.
Currently, a lot of the features listed above are still in development. Your options in the Android version are “Pope Francis” (news, videos, photos), “News”, “Events”, “Daily Mass Readings”,”Resources,” “Playlist,” and “Settings.” In reading the reviews and the responses, it is quite clear that this application is a work in progress. In my mind, the application was pushed out to help people who where interested in following the Pope while he visits the US to get access to information and to view his addresses and masses.
Despite the early release, the features are easy to use and do work. Also the developer is quick to respond to concerns about the application and promise more features over time. As time allows I may provide a more in-depth review.
You can find the application on Google Play. I understand you can also get the application from Itunes, but I have been unable to find it. {Update 9/23/15 – A friend of mine says she did find it on Itunes}