Irish Christening

jester77

I've been asked to be a godfather for my nephew, but I've never been to a Christening. I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

What does the godfather have to do during the ceremony?
What does one normally wear, is it similar to a wedding, suit ok or too much?
What does one usually give as a present?

I will be flying back with my own children and they have never been to anything like this.
Do they also need to get dressed up?
Whats a rough running time for such a ceremony, any tips on keeping young children from creating havoc in the church??

Anything else I should be aware of?

theteal

I was at one recently in Naas and it was a lot more casual than they used to be. The parents will probably have their glad rags on so as a godparent you may as well suit up. Once he kids aren’t tearing around the place (as they were that day in Naas) it doesn’t matter what they wear. The last one I was godparent at was a group affair, no direct questions asked of me.

lazygal

You'll be asked to make certain promises, so maybe check if you're happy to reject Satan and so on before you go ahead with it.

catrionanic

Christenings can be quite casual these days, but I think godparents generally do make some effort. Not quite as formal as a wedding, but a shirt and tie and no jeans would likely be appropriate. For your kids, I’d dress them smart casual.

You’ll be expected to stand around the baptismal font and respond with “I do” to questions from the priest - questions like do you promise to do your best to bring this child up in the faith, do you reject Satan, etc. Often one of the godparents will hold the child over the font as it is baptised, or light the baptismal candle. That’s about it though.

The length of ceremony will depend on the church - some priests do christenings as part of the mass, so expect it to be around an hour. Others will just do the baptism after the mass is over (so you could bring your own kids just to the baptism part) - which would be much shorter. I’d estimate 30 mins max.

For gifts, whatever you want really. My son’s godfather provided his baptismal candle - he got it online and it was personalised with his name and the date of his christening. You could buy the christening cake? Other gifts my boy had were an engraved silver money box, an engraved silver case for his birth and baptismal cert, a baby book, and some money for his savings.

Enjoy the day!