Question about Godparents?

[icunurse]

Admittedly, I am not the most active or knowledgable Catholic. So I figure someone here would have a better answer (or just give me their opinion). If one of the people that you chose to be a Godparent for your child has now chosen to follow a non-Christian religion, are they still considered a Godparent? Obviously, the standards for being a Godparent are no longer being met (not even for a witness vs sponsor). But does that change anything now? (For the record, I do have issues with the new "religion" choice of this person and their reasons for choosing it.)
Traci
~Connor's Mom 02/2004~
Agency paperwork completed - waiting (and waiting) for another baby!

[icunurse]

Admittedly, I am not the most active or knowledgable Catholic. So I figure someone here would have a better answer (or just give me their opinion). If one of the people that you chose to be a Godparent for your child has now chosen to follow a non-Christian religion, are they still considered a Godparent? Obviously, the standards for being a Godparent are no longer being met (not even for a witness vs sponsor). But does that change anything now? (For the record, I do have issues with the new "religion" choice of this person and their reasons for choosing it.)
Traci
~Connor's Mom 02/2004~
Agency paperwork completed - waiting (and waiting) for another baby!

[oliviasmomma]

As far as I know thay are still the Godparent(s) regardless of what transpires later. (This topic came up with my cousin--who is a priest--and that is what he said about it.)

[oliviasmomma]

As far as I know thay are still the Godparent(s) regardless of what transpires later. (This topic came up with my cousin--who is a priest--and that is what he said about it.)

[kakohler]

I learned about this when DS was baptized last Thanksgiving. At least of of the Godparents must be Catholic. You can have as many as you want (DS has 4), and they can be of any faith they choose, but the Catholic Godparent will go down on the paperwork as the "official" Godparent.

Of course, some Catholic churches may be more strict about this than other - a lot will depend on your priest.

[kakohler]

I learned about this when DS was baptized last Thanksgiving. At least of of the Godparents must be Catholic. You can have as many as you want (DS has 4), and they can be of any faith they choose, but the Catholic Godparent will go down on the paperwork as the "official" Godparent.

Of course, some Catholic churches may be more strict about this than other - a lot will depend on your priest.

[mamicka]

Full disclosure: I am not Catholic. I have had no Catholic education whatsoever.

The way I understand it, there is no rule that says that a Godparent that has chosen another religion is can no longer be a Godparent. But, I think that beyond that, it really comes down to your wishes. Isn't the Godparent supposed to help teach the child about Catholicism/Christianity & be a good example of Christianity? Depending on the new religion, you may believe that this may not be possible... in which case it's up to you to decide that this person would no longer be able to serve as a Godparent.

Forgive me if I've gotten anything wrong, I'm certainly no expert on the subject.

Allison

[mamicka]

Full disclosure: I am not Catholic. I have had no Catholic education whatsoever.

The way I understand it, there is no rule that says that a Godparent that has chosen another religion is can no longer be a Godparent. But, I think that beyond that, it really comes down to your wishes. Isn't the Godparent supposed to help teach the child about Catholicism/Christianity & be a good example of Christianity? Depending on the new religion, you may believe that this may not be possible... in which case it's up to you to decide that this person would no longer be able to serve as a Godparent.

Forgive me if I've gotten anything wrong, I'm certainly no expert on the subject.

Allison

[Scsigrl]

Well, unless you go to your church and tell them, are they going to know? As stated by a PP, as long as ONE of the GP's is Catholic, all is well.

As for your personal feelings, that is a totally different story. You could tell someone "You are no longer DD/DS's GP because.." I, however, would not :) Again, I think that is a personal decision though!

[lisams]

I don't know the technical answer. I do know that Godparents are the ones that will continue the church teachings if you and your DH should pass away. Being a Godparent does not make them legal gaurdians or anything like that. So from that standpoint, I think you have some legit concerns. Would you mind if they they taught your DS their religion instead of yours should you pass away? Seems like a really tough position to be in. I don't know if I would have the guts to change Godparents, but if I were in your situation I would make it clear that if we pass away I would want our child to be raised in whatever religion we were practicing until they are old enough to decide for themselves.

Good luck!

[MelissaTC]

I guess the issue is that you have issues with the religion choice and their reasons. I think that sometimes Godparents fade away into the distance. It has happened in my family (my Godmother is no longer married to my Uncle and hasn't been for quite sometime. All I know is she lives in Spain.) It would be one thing if you chose this person knowing that their faith is different then yours. For example, I have a close friend that is not Catholic but Christian. It wouldn't stop me from considering her as a Godmother to my child because I believe she has a strong sense of spirituality and we hold similar things as the foundation of our lives. I feel that she would be able to provide my child with proper guidance. It sounds like you don't feel that way about your child's Godparent.

[kboyle]

agreed, unless you make it known to the church that a godparent is no longer practicing they wouldn't know.

we had to take a pre-baptismal class before ds1 was baptised and from what i remember:
1 godparent has to be an active catholic that has done as many sacraments as possible (baptised, 1st communion, confirmation, marriage, etc)
they must be over the age of 16 i think
must be one male & one female

i took the class at a nearby church since i had just missed my churches classes.

when i went to baptise ds1 they looked thru the records and noticed that my SIL wasn't confirmed and they wouldn't let her be a godmother even though BIL was so he would count as the "legal" godparent. they were pretty harsh about it since dh and i weren't married yet and in charlie's records it states that i was a single mother. that absolutely pi$$ed me off, but that's a whole other story

for ds2 i had SIL be the godmother and just didn't mention it to them that she hadn't been confirmed...yes, i lied :0 they had a big fit that even though dh and i were married that we weren't married by a catholic priest so they made us get re-married thru the church before they would baptise max. so now dh and i laugh because we have 2 wedding anniversaries. the 2nd "wedding" was pretty real too, they had us take off our rings & have them blessed, we had to exchange vows & rings again, and we had to have witnesses, so BIL was best man & SIL was maid of honor (they weren't at our wedding in vegas, so it was cool that they were there) charlie & max were there too, actually we had took turns holding charlie since he was sick and wasn't about hanging out. ;)

ok, sorry to babble about my godparenting issues, but yeah, back to you, what they don't know won't hurt them. as long as godparent doesn't try and teach your dc his new "ways" then i think you're good.