Anglican Baptism?

[apricot_yogurt]

My sister in law just had a baby. She is a nominally practising Anglican.She may decide to get her son Christened/Baptised. My husband and I are practicing Catholics.If she asks us to be godparents (as we do all that God stuff) we need to kindly refuse. Is that right? Also then, would it be unwise to attend the Baptism at all? Advice needed.thanks.

 

[1ke]

Is that right?

You are correct. A Catholic cannot be a baptismal sponsor (a.k.a. “godparent”) for a non-Catholic child, nor can a non-Catholic be a baptismal sponsor for a Catholic child.

Also then, would it be unwise to attend the Baptism at all? Advice needed.thanks.

No, not at all. It is a perfectly valid baptism and there is no reason to decline to witness it.

(If the parents are lapsed Catholics, it might bring in some more consideration of the matter.)

 

[MattofTexas]

I suspect the Anglican Church would require godparents to be confirmed Anglicans, though…perhaps not, but in any case it probably would not be appropriate for you to sponsor a child in a church in schism with your own, but if this situation comes to reality you would be much better served asking your pastor or spiritual director than us here.

As for attending the baptism, the Catholic Church recognizes Anglican baptism as valid, so it is a valid sacrament. As such I see no moral reason requiring you to be absent.

 

[angell1]

You are correct. A Catholic cannot be a baptismal sponsor (a.k.a. “godparent”) for a non-Catholic child, nor can a non-Catholic be a baptismal sponsor for a Catholic child.

No, not at all. It is a perfectly valid baptism and there is no reason to decline to witness it.

(If the parents are lapsed Catholics, it might bring in some more consideration of the matter.)

hmm, didn’t know that, you learn something new every day.

i’m guessing it’s because the churches aren’t in communion with each other?

why are marriages allowed in other churches then sometimes/ how is it different?

 

[apricot_yogurt]

Thank you for your responses.That is much as I thought

 

[Phemie]

hmm, didn’t know that, you learn something new every day.

i’m guessing it’s because the churches aren’t in communion with each other?

why are marriages allowed in other churches then sometimes/ how is it different?

To put it in simple terms, you can’t sponsor someone into a club to which you don’t belong. That’s why you can’t have a Catholic as the godparent for a non-Catholic child or a non-Catholic as the godparent of a Catholic child.

Yes, you can have a baptized non-Catholic as a Christian witness along with a Catholic Sponsor but that non-Catholic is not considered a godparent by the Church.

Sadly, because such a set up is allowed, many parents are not informed of the difference and when they see the certificate with the non-Catholic listed as either ‘godmother’ or ‘godfather’ they think it’s all the same. But I know parishes where the Christian witness’s name is not entered into the baptismal register and doesn’t appear anywhere in official documents.

Even sadder is that sometimes priests assume that parents know all this and they don’t ask the right questions. That has resulted, in our own parish, in children not having ANY godparents because the parents chose only non-Catholics and we failed to discover this until a few years later.

The form of marriage is a rule that the Church can decide to dispense with in certain situations if one of the parties is not Catholic.