Sponsor (Confirmation) and Godparent (Baptism)
Before you ask someone to be a Godparent or sponsor, or before accepting this honor, please consider the following:
Godparents and Sponsors are persons of faith who so exemplify what it means to be a member of the Church that they inspire (or hope to inspire) the one they are sponsoring and will support that person in his/her journey of faith. To be considered eligible, certain conditions must be met, which is why the Church insists that a certificate of eligibility, obtained from the prospective Godparent/ sponsor’s home parish, be provided prior to the celebration of the sacrament.
The applicant must be formally registered in a parish. If we don’t know you, how can we testify that you are eligible? Furthermore, the applicant should make his/her own request. While there may be legitimate extenuating circumstances, ordinarily parish staffs are suspicious about the seriousness of an applicant’s intentions if someone else is making the request for them.
Applicants must be fully initiated, practicing members of the Church, at least 16 years of age. That is, they have received the sacraments of Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation and regularly attend Mass. The pastor can dispense from the age minimum, provided that the applicant meets these sacramental requirements.
Where we run into the most difficulties is if the applicant is married. We cannot issue a certificate of eligibility to a married person if the marriage is not valid in the Catholic Church. For a marriage to be valid a sanctioned Catholic priest must have performed it or, if celebrated outside the Church, with a formal dispensation granted by the local Bishop. Civil marriages or those performed by non-Catholic religious officials without a formal dispensation are not valid in the Church.
For the applicant in an invalid marriage to receive a certificate of eligibility, the marriage must first be convalidated by a renewal of vows before a sanctioned priest and two witnesses. If either spouse had a prior marriage that ended in divorce, regardless of where that first marriage took place, the Church must formally annul the prior marriage before a convalidation can be celebrated.
see Church Canon Law
Canon 872:
There should be a godparent for the person to be baptized insofar as this is possible. In adult baptism the godparent assists the baptized in Christian initiation. In infant baptism the godparent, together with the parents, presents the child for baptism and helps the baptized to lead the Christian life expected by baptism and to fulfill faithfully the obligations inherent to it.
Canon 873:
There may be one godfather, one godmother, or one of each.
Canon 874:
§1 To be admitted to the role of a godparent, a person must :
1° |
be designated by the one to be baptized, by the parents or the one who takes their place or, in their absence, by the pastor or minister and is to have the qualifications and intention of performing their role; |
2° |
have completed the sixteenth year, unless a different age has been established by the diocesan bishop or it seems to the pastor or minister that an exception is to be made for a just cause; |
3° |
be a Catholic who has been confirmed and has already received the sacrament of theMost Holy Eucharist and leads a life in harmony with the faith and the role to be undertaken; |
4° |
not be bound by any canonical penalty legitimately imposed or declared; |
5° |
not be the father or the mother of the one to be baptized. |
§2 A baptized person who belongs to a non-Catholic ecclesial community may not be admitted except as a witness to baptism and together with a Catholic sponsor.
Eligibility Form
One who desires to be a godparent, needs an eligibilty form from the church in which they are registered and practicing. If you have additional questions about one's 'eligibilty' please contact the office.