Godparents?

[carmenchristi]

So my nephew is going to be baptized... great news, right? Well almost. I'm just a little confused about something. Other than the fact that his parents are only civilly married - I can understand that the priest wouldn't want to deny baptism to the child because of a fault of the parents- but my next concern is that the godparents aren't even Catholic. One of them was Catholic, though never confirmed and has since become a protestant and the other, his wife has always been Protestant. I'm pretty sure it's an arrangement based on financial reasons. So I don't believe that this is possible, but it seems that the priest is allowing it... or maybe he doesn't know yet. The baptism is in early Sept. so maybe he hasn't asked about godparents yet? So how would you deal with this situation while still trying to keep the peace in the family? Should I call their pastor? I guess my mom is going to try and talk to my brother... but things are kinda tense already with my sister-in-law.... -sigh-

[cmaD2006]

my pastor is very clear about it ... the Godparents must be Catholic, at a minimum by Baptism. He's actually has had situations where he finds out that the Godparents aren't Catholic and he refuses to baptize.

Call the pastor ... maybe he can broach the subject without you getting involved. Besides they usually check at the classes to make sure that the Godparents are Catholic.

[Egidio]

The God parents have to be catholics IN GOOD STANDING! Which means that can't be co-habitating, they must at least be trying to get to Mass on Sundays, and of course they can't be "public sinners".

I think many don't realise the great responsibility being a God Parent entails...

AVE MARIA!

[LaPetiteSoeur]

They have to be in good standing, typically with a letter from their pastor as a reference. Only one must be Catholic (my sister, for example, has a Catholic godfather and an Episcopalian godmother).

The parents can have their marriage recognized by the church; there's a name for the ceremony, but I only worked one of them and forgot :/.

In my parish that I worked in, we had a strict baptism policy because we found many parents had just been getting their children baptized as a "get out of hell" free card. So we instituted mandatory classes for parents (in Spanish and English) that made sure parents were SURE they wanted their children baptized and that they would be involved parish members. Other churches are insituting programs like this as wel.

[EmilyAnn]

[quote name='LaPetiteSoeur' timestamp='1344866393' post='2466851']
They have to be in good standing, typically with a letter from their pastor as a reference. Only one must be Catholic (my sister, for example, has a Catholic godfather and an Episcopalian godmother).

The parents can have their marriage recognized by the church; there's a name for the ceremony, but I only worked one of them and forgot :/.

In my parish that I worked in, we had a strict baptism policy because we found many parents had just been getting their children baptized as a "get out of hell" free card. So we instituted mandatory classes for parents (in Spanish and English) that made sure parents were SURE they wanted their children baptized and that they would be involved parish members. Other churches are insituting programs like this as wel.
[/quote]

I think it's a convalidation.

Lots of parishes here have the same problem, people get their kids baptised so that they can get into the Catholic schools.

[LaPetiteSoeur]

[quote name='EmilyAnn' timestamp='1344867486' post='2466857']
I think it's a convalidation.

Lots of parishes here have the same problem, people get their kids baptised so that they can get into the Catholic schools.
[/quote]
Ah! the Convalidation!

I've never had kids get baptized for Catholic schools; in my experience the schools here take anybody and everybody.

[EmilyAnn]

[quote name='LaPetiteSoeur' timestamp='1344868099' post='2466862']
Ah! the Convalidation!

I've never had kids get baptized for Catholic schools; in my experience the schools here take anybody and everybody.
[/quote]

Here preference is given to members of those churches for religious schools, so there are parents that "go through the motions" to get their kids into Catholic schools, which are usually better than a lot of other state schools.

[Egidio]

[quote name='LaPetiteSoeur' timestamp='1344866393' post='2466851']
Only one must be Catholic (my sister, for example, has a Catholic godfather and an Episcopalian godmother).




[/quote]

I'm afraid that a God Parent MUST be Catholic. I quote Canon 874 #3: "[the sponsor must] be a catholic who has been confirmed and has received the Blessed Eucharist, and who lives a life of faith which befits the role to be undertaken."

The Code of Canon law comes in handy sometimes.

AVE MARIA!

[LaPetiteSoeur]

I looked it up; i believe we call her a godmother, but technically a "Witness."

[cmaD2006]

[quote name='Egidio' timestamp='1344868459' post='2466865']
I'm afraid that a God Parent MUST be Catholic. I quote Canon 874 #3: "[the sponsor must] be a catholic who has been confirmed and has received the Blessed Eucharist, and who lives a life of faith which befits the role to be undertaken."

The Code of Canon law comes in handy sometimes.

AVE MARIA!
[/quote]

LaPetiteSoeur got it right: From Canon 874:


§2. A baptized person who belongs to a non-Catholic ecclesial community is not to participate except together with a Catholic sponsor and then only as a witness of the baptism.

[Egidio]

But if you read it carefully, you will see that the non catholic party [u][b]can only be a witness[/b][/u] of the baptism, and not a God Parent.

AVE MARIA!

[Egidio]

[quote name='LaPetiteSoeur' timestamp='1344869294' post='2466872']
I looked it up; i believe we call her a godmother, but technically a "Witness."
[/quote]

Sorry i missed this post. Never the less, canonically and essentially speaking, a god parent and a witness are quite different things.

AVE MARIA!