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My daughters christening

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  • 14-05-2008 1:44pm
    #1
    colin2503
    Registered Users Posts: 29 ✭


    my daughters christening is on saturday and i would like some advice re her godparents
    i am a practising catholic although my parent is not a catholic at all. originally we wanted both my sister (catholic) and rachel (my patners) sister Katy (agnostic) as godparents. we were told by the parish priest that he would only allow one female to be godparent and that we must find a male to be godfather.
    has anyone else been allowed two godmothers?

    assuming we must have one godmother and one godfather we would like to have rachels sister and her husband. will this be allowed given that the godmother has not been christened and the godfather is protestant.

    reading this back to myself this does sound a bit ridiculous but it would mean so much to both us and Katy for her to be a godparent.

    does the priest/church even ask the denomination of the godparents or must we declare the fact.

    please help me. my partner wants to cancel the whole thing but i really want my daughter baptised and for it to be a special day

    thanks


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    #2
    High&Low
    Closed Accounts Posts: 323 ✭✭High&Low


    I was christened a catholic in 1975 and both my godparents were protestants. When we christened our daughter two years ago the priest never asked for any information on what religion the godparents were.


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    #3
    witchity
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10 ✭witchity


    When my niece was baptised (catholic) she had one godfather and two godmothers. There was no problem there so maybe its down to individual priests.

    I recently had my son baptised and was only asked the parents religion.

    I wouldn't cancel it, because it is such a special day. We were going to have a humanist ceremony initially as partner is an atheist and i am non practicing catholic , but we both really enjoyed the experience.


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    #4
    littlebug
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,832 ✭✭✭littlebug


    My nephew has 2 godmothers and one godfather and the priest had no problem with that. For my own 2 children I think I remember filling out a form which did ask about about the godparent's religion. It makes sense if the idea is that the Godparents supposed duty is to provide spiritual guidance in the catholic sense.

    Here from wiki

    [edit] Roman Catholic Church
    In the Roman Catholic church, only church members who have undergone Confirmation are accepted as godparents. Someone who belongs to another Christian denomination cannot become a godparent but is known as a Christian Witness, with most of the regular role of a godparent. Non-Christians are not at all eligible to any religious role formalized by the Church. This is based on the view that the godparent-godchild relationship is not something which is just between the persons and God, but a whole-Church event wherein the Holy Spirit dwells.

    A Godparent prays for the newly baptized, looks after them spiritually and gives them guidance.

    I'd imagine that you're at the mercy of the individual priests opinions on this one but you might get lucky and have one who is open minded.


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    #5
    killwill
    Registered Users Posts: 2,785 ✭✭✭killwill


    Hi OP, I am a catholic and my partner protestant. Our daughter's godmother is protestant. Also my partner is godmother to my nephew. One of my sisters is the other godmother. He does not have a godfather. I can't see why the priest has a problem with your circumstance unless it is a personal problem.
    @ littlebug. I asked our priest about it at the time and at christenings the parents and godparents are asked if they will bring up the child as a christian.


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    #6
    SarahMc
    Closed Accounts Posts: 517 ✭✭✭SarahMc


    Given that:
    • you have such limited time
    • you seem to have a stickler for a priest
    • it is very very difficult to change Godparents after a Christening


    I would go for the Godparents you really want (telling a little white lie about their faith, with their permission of course). I'm sure God will understand.


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    #7
    littlebug
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,832 ✭✭✭littlebug


    SarahMc wrote: »
    Given that:


    I would go for the Godparents you really want (telling a little white lie about their faith, with their permission of course). I'm sure God will understand.

    :D I was going to say that but then decided it would be morally wrong to advice someone to lie to the Church :D


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    #8
    DinoBot
    Registered Users Posts: 699 ✭✭✭DinoBot


    colin2503 wrote: »
    reading this back to myself this does sound a bit ridiculous but it would mean so much to both us and Katy for her to be a godparent.

    does the priest/church even ask the denomination of the godparents or must we declare the fact.


    thanks

    I agree, you could just "lie" a little and pretend they are catholic. But may I ask WHY you want non catholics to be god-parents to your child. Is that not going against the whole point of it ??


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    #9
    SerialComplaint
    Registered Users Posts: 2,644 ✭✭✭SerialComplaint


    In 1975, my sister want two of her brothers (including myself) to be the godparents of her daughter/my niece. When the priest queried the two male godparents, my sister indicated that she'd be quite happy to go down the road to the local Church of Ireland church for the christening. The padre changed his tune promptly, and the little girl got two great godfathers.


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