Adding new vices

Forgive me iPhone for I have sinned: The absurdity of the new Confession App

The new iPhone confession app

Feeling sinful? There's an app for that.

It's been a long 500 years, but finally Catholic souls can again be cleansed without a visit to the priest. In the middle ages one had to buy pricey get-out-of-hell-free cards known as indulgences from traveling pardoners — what, you think cathedrals grow on trees?!

These days the same absolution can be gained by spending $1.99 for the Confession application for iPhones and iPads. It even comes with the Roman Catholic seal of approval via an imprimatur from Fort Wayne, Ind., bishop Kevin Rhodes.

OK, technically the Vatican says that the app isn't meant to replace an in-person confession, just to help Catholics prepare for a session by including a proper confession script and a list of potential sins. You can check off sins you are guilty of and add new sins you've come up with. (Also please list them in the comments! CultureMap's Steven Thomson needs something to do this week.)

Frankly we think the app could be improved by adding some of the Urbanspoon functionality — enter a sin, and your frequency of sinfulness, shake the screen and the confession app pops up the appropriate penance. For example, impure thoughts 10-plus times per day = three rosaries and seven Hail Marys.

It could free up time for the decreasing number of priests as well as help Catholics on the go get good with God. What better to bring lay Catholics back to the fold? If this doesn't work, there's always Buddy Christ.

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income analysis

Texas families need to make this much money for one parent to stay home

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

With costs to raise a child soaring over $20,000 a year in Texas, some households might decide to have one parent work while the other stays at home to raise their child.

As the cost of raising a child balloons in major cities like Houston, many families are weighing the choice between paying for child care or having one parent stay home full-time.

A recent analysis from SmartAsset determined the minimum income one parent needs to earn to support their partner staying at home to raise one child in all 50 states. In Texas — not just Houston — that amount is just under $75,000.

The study used the MIT Living Wage Calculator to compare the annual living wages needed for a household with two working adults and one child, and a household with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child. The study also calculated how much it would cost to raise a child with two working parents based on factors such as "food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, incremental income taxes and other necessities."

A Texas household with one working parent would need to earn $74,734 a year to support a stay-at-home partner and a child, the report found. If two parents worked in the household, necessitating some additional costs like childcare and transportation, it would require an additional $10,504 in annual income to raise their child.

SmartAsset said the cost to raise a child in Texas in a two-working-parent household adds up to $23,587. Raising a child in Houston, however, is somewhat more affordable. A separate SmartAsset study from June 2025 determined it costs $21,868 to raise a child in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro.

In the report's ranking of states with the highest minimum income needed to support a family with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child, Texas ranked 32nd on the list.

In other states like Massachusetts, where raising a child can cost more than $40,000 a year, the report acknowledges ways families are working to reduce any financial burdens.

"This often includes considerations around who’s going to work in the household, and whether young children will require paid daycare services while parents are occupied," the report said. "With tradeoffs abound, many parents might seek to understand the minimum income needed to keep the family afloat while allowing the other parent to stay home to raise a young child."

The top 10 states with the lowest minimum income threshold to support a three-person family on one income are:

West Virginia – $68,099
Arkansas – $68,141
Mississippi – $70,242
Kentucky – $70,408
North Dakota – $70,949
Oklahoma – $71,718
Ohio – $72,114
South Dakota – $72,218
Alabama – $72,238
Nebraska – $72,966

texas income smartasset family