You must remember if you were asked to be a Godparent and if you were present at the baptism for that purpose?
In some cultures where they have more than two godparents more than 2 are at the font for the baptism. We had a Filipino priest and he’d allow any number of people to be named “godparent” and answer during the baptism although only two were ever entered in the register.
Baptismal certificate should say.
I pray this is not the reason why people become godparents, but I know often times it is. Maybe if the parents gave more responsibilities to godparents most would drop out. If you’re worried about gifts, the greater gift is to act like a true godparent and help foster a strong religious life in your godchild. Maybe go with him/her to church at least once a month and take her/him to confession and adoration. His/her religion will last much longer than a material gift.
Sounds like fun. I wonder if the priest ask everyone in the church, “Would anyone else like to be a godparent to this child?”
I have found baptismal records at Ancestry of relatives and they did not give permission to Ancestry to publish them.
I believe you are incorrect. I know of no such thing that sacramental records are confidential. A relative of mine baptismal records can be found on ancestry. He was born in 1945. He was unaware that his baptism could be found on the site and he really didn’t care.
No, I am not incorrect on this. I do the sacramental records at my parish. I am well aware of the requirements.
You can look up “handbook of sacramental records” on the web and you will find numerous PDF documents from diocese around the world. They all say the same thing: confidential.
That could have been obtained by means other than the parish church a certificate issued to the parents perhaps, another relative putting in the information, or yes even someone at the parish doing what they should not do: giving out information to those who have no business with the records. As I said numerous times before, it is a major breach of their duties, but unfortunately it sounds too common.
Yes, again look up sacramental records on the web and you will find numerous diocesan documents. And they all say the same thing.
Since the Church seems to be several decades behind in the area of information technology, the safeguarding of sacramental records is extremely important. Those dusty books sitting on the parish secretary’s bookshelf could very well be the only record in existence. When I heard about the terrible tragedy that took place in the Philippines, one of the things I thought about was the sacramental records that were undoubtedly lost in the countless churches that were destroyed. The difficulties caused by the loss of those records will probably last for generations.
You are absolutely correct. I would however point out that the handbook seems to be unique to each diocese that is it is not a universal document like say the Canon Law. If you have evidence that is different it would be nice to see. The search that I did only brought up the United States. As for genealogy, there were differences. Las Angels does not open their records however, other diocese do before the year 1930. It might be that my relatives diocese might have a different criteria for such research.
I think parishes usually follow the laws of their respective civil jurisdictions. My baptismal parish published the records up to 1920. At the time, that would have been in line with the records published by Vital Statistics which today has birth records up to 1933, deaths & marriages up to 1963.
