Strengthen Your Brethren, Sacrament of Baptism- Part 5 - September 3, 2006
In this fifth installment in the series on the Sacrament of Baptism we continue examining the role of godparent or sponsor (the two terms are interchangeable). The Rite of Baptism of Children notes that through the godparents’ participation in the baptism ceremony they are “added spiritually to the family of the one to be baptized and . . . represent Mother Church. As occasion offers, (they) will be ready to help the parents bring up their child to profess the faith and to show this by living it” (8). The following details with regard to the office of sponsor are taken from canons 872-874 of the Code of Canon Law.
One godparent, male or female, is all that is required by Church law. If there are two sponsors, one must be male and the other female. Normally, it is the parents or those who take the place of the parents who designate the godparent of the child. When this is not possible, then it is the responsibility of the Pastor or, in his absence, another minister (for example, a catechist in mission lands) to name the sponsor. To be a godparent one must be qualified for this office and have the intention of carrying out the accompanying duties. Simply being present at the ceremony is not enough! Rather, it is a lifelong responsibility to assist the godchild in the unfolding of the grace of Baptism “on the road of Christian life” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1255). The godparent must be mature enough to undertake such weighty duties. Thus, the sponsor must be at least 16 years of age.
The godparent must be a member of the Catholic Church who has already received the three sacraments of initiation, namely, Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Eucharist. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms, the sponsor “must be (a) firm believer” (1255), that is, living a life in communion with the teachings of the Church and participating in her sacramental life through the regular reception of the sacraments, especially Penance and the Holy Eucharist. In order to be a godparent one cannot be under an imposed or declared canonical penalty. Also, the mother or father of the one to be baptized may not act as the sponsor.
According to paragraph 98 of the Directory for the Application of the Principles and Norms of Ecumenism of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (25 March 1993), strictly speaking, a baptized person belonging to a non-Catholic ecclesial community (for example, any Protestant Christian denomination) cannot be a godparent “in a liturgical and canonical sense.” However, such a person may be admitted as a Christian “witness to the Baptism, but only together with a Catholic godparent.” This option is exercised most frequently when the Catholic sponsor is in a marriage of mixed religion, that is, a marriage between a Catholic and a baptized non-Catholic. The reason that a godparent should himself be a member of the Church in which the Baptism is being celebrated is because he does “not merely undertake a responsibility for the Christian education of the person being baptized as a relative or friend.” Rather, the sponsor is also there as a representative “of a co! mmunity of faith, standing as guarantor of the candidate’s faith and desire for ecclesial communion.” According to the same principles, it is not permissible for a Catholic to be a godparent for a member of a non-Catholic ecclesial community, but he may be admitted as a Christian witness of the Baptism.
That same Vatican document regarding appropriate relations with other Christians goes on to say that “because of the close communion between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches, it is permissible for a just cause for an Eastern faithful to act as godparent, together with a Catholic godparent, at the Baptism of a Catholic infant. According to the same principles, a Catholic is “not forbidden to stand as a godparent in an Eastern Orthodox Church, if he is so invited.”