Godparents

johnpl · 09-05-2005 9:40pm #1

My wife and I are expecting our first child towards the end of the Summer, and we are currently trying to figure out who we'd like as godparents. My wife wants her sister, which would be a good choice, but I've also considered asking my sister (I have 2 brothers). Would it be strange or unusual to have 2 godmothers as opposed to 1 godmother and 1 godfather??
Thanks.

KdjaCL · 09-05-2005 9:44pm

We have 2 godmothers and 2 godfathers for one kid

Dunno how that worked out but no its not odd.

kdjac

kittenkiller · 09-05-2005 9:48pm

I've heard of having 3, 2 godmothers for a girl or 2 godfathers for a boy.

Shabadu · 09-05-2005 9:48pm

We have two godmothers for our son. Choose who you feel would contribute most, regardless of gender. Congratulatios, btw! Your poor wife being heavily pregnant in the Summer, it was murder on me.

johnpl · 10-05-2005 6:23pm

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Personally, we both would like my sister and my wife's sister, so it looks like it's going to be 2 godmothers!! I just didn't know of anyone who had done this.

C Fodder · 17-05-2005 9:59pm

An alternative suggestion which can prevent family rows (and we all know how easy they can happen) is have the people who were best man and bridesmaid stand for the first one and if anyone grumbles just say that you are being traditionalist on this one

. However if the priest is happy with whoever you pick i.e. doesn't start calling down fire and brimstone on you for your choice then whoever you pick is just fine.

Shabadu · 17-05-2005 10:01pm

What if you're not married?

babaduck · 19-05-2005 5:00pm

Oddly enough, I am one of two godmothers too!

My sister & her fiance had a baby recently and we are very close, so I was always No. 1 for godmother (she was my chief bridesmaid). Her fiance has no brothers, just a sister so they decided to have two godmothers & stuff tradition

Santa Claus · 20-05-2005 9:33am

I'm sure the child won't mind.....Better presents on birthdays / christmas / etc (Not that your respective sisters wouldn't be buying auntie presents anyway, but being an uncle / godfather myself I always feel I have to go a bit extra for my godson nephew as opposed to my normal nephews).

Oh yeah, and I have 3 godmothers and 1 godfather which caused quite a stir in the 70's when I was baptised (Parents thought I was going to be an only child so my mum couldn;t choose between her sisters, but the priest was MAJORLY unhappy with it).

Talliesin · 20-05-2005 9:51am

We have one godsparent for each child. Being picky I suppose, and not having any "obvious" choices amongst our siblings.

hallelujajordan · 23-05-2005 11:18pm

johnpl wrote:

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Personally, we both would like my sister and my wife's sister, so it looks like it's going to be 2 godmothers!! I just didn't know of anyone who had done this.

Was at a pre-baptism course tonight and having read this thread at the weekend it crossed my mind to ask if there were any rules in relation to this . . and apparently there are . . according to canon law, godparents should fulfill the following criteria

1. They must have been baptised, had communion and been confirmed
2. They must be over 16
3. They must be practicing catholics
4. There must be at least two, at least one male and at least one female

dunno if this is all true, but it'd be interesting to find out . . and what are the implications to breaching canon law ? ?

Going Demented · 01-06-2005 8:14pm

hallelujajordan wrote:

1. They must have been baptised, had communion and been confirmed
2. They must be over 16
3. They must be practicing catholics
4. There must be at least two, at least one male and at least one female

dunno if this is all true, but it'd be interesting to find out . . and what are the implications to breaching canon law ? ?

Hmmm I was 15 when i became godmother to my nephew.
My nieces godmother was 14.
My brother is my godfather and was 15 at the time.

So not too sure about that??

Interesting though.

hallelujajordan · 02-06-2005 5:33pm

Going Demented wrote:

Hmmm I was 15 when i became godmother to my nephew.
My nieces godmother was 14.
My brother is my godfather and was 15 at the time.

So not too sure about that??

Interesting though.

I too was surprised at this so I did some searching around . . To my surprise Canon Law is fully internet-ised and you can look at the relevant section here :

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P2Y.HTM

Seems like its all true . .

solice · 07-06-2005 1:03pm

I have heard of cases where the child was baptised and had two godfathers and two godmothers. The rule says that there "must be AT LEAST two godparents". Being anal i would hazard a guess and say its fine to have more than two

hallelujajordan · 07-06-2005 3:05pm

solice wrote:

I have heard of cases where the child was baptised and had two godfathers and two godmothers. The rule says that there "must be AT LEAST two godparents". Being anal i would hazard a guess and say its fine to have more than two

Continuing down the anal route . . Canon Law 873 . . (follow link posted above) states the following . .

Can. 873 There is to be only one male sponsor or one female sponsor or one of each.

concobhar · 14-01-2006 11:08am

what was the final conclusion on this whole debate? Is it a law that can be bent depending on the priest?

thanks in advance for any feedback

RainyDay · 21-01-2006 5:33pm

concobhar wrote:

what was the final conclusion on this whole debate? Is it a law that can be bent depending on the priest?

thanks in advance for any feedback

Yes - the rules are often bent in practice. I was one of two male godfathers when I was just 11. My little girl baptised last year has 2 male godfathers also.

DaisyD · 02-02-2006 8:43pm

By now Johnpl your baby has arrived and has probably been christened. My sister was told last week by the priest who will be christening her second son at the weekend that in this day and age god parents are only for buying big presents!!! Couldn't believe a priest would say that but there you go! He said god parents "used to be there to guide the child through the faith but not anymore". Neither god parent will be at the christening, I offered to stand in and the priest said there was no need!!! Hope baby, mammy and daddy are getting on great...

johnpl · 03-02-2006 9:19am

Thanks Daisy. Baby Áine arrived into the world on the 31st August 2005 and is doing brilliantly. We ended up going for my brother and my wife's sister in the end so the original question i asked , well the situation didn't arise in the end. We do give the godparents a bit of a slagging over having to be Áine's moral guardians etc!!

DaisyD · 03-02-2006 10:57pm

That's great... congrats to you both. It's great fun being a god parent, hope Aine's enjoy the job! My poor god sons get no moral teaching from me, but they do get plenty of fun and of course the presents!!! My son's god mother is my sister and it's lovely to have that close contact. His god father isn't in contact with him unfortunately, very upsetting for me, but at least he has a great god mother.

Godparents

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