I stand corrected, they may be a sponsor, but not godparent. See cuf.org/Faithfacts/details_view.asp?ffID=259
Should I Be a Godparent?
**Issue: **How should a person decide whether to accept the invitation to be a godparent?
**Response: **There are a number of considerations a person might make when deciding whether to accept the invitation to be a godparent. These fall into two general categories: Church norms and personal considerations.
**Discussion: **The Church’s norms are the criteria she lays out to establish who may serve as a godparent. The norms exist for the good of all parties concerned: the child’s parents, the child’s potential godparents, and especially the child to be baptized. They point to the important role a godparent plays in the life of a child. A godparent (referred to in the *Code of Canon Law *as a “sponsor”) “helps the baptized person to lead a Christian life in keeping with baptism and to fulfill faithfully the obligations inherent in it” (
Code of Canon Law Canon Law , Can. 872). In short, he helps his godchild get to heaven.
Potential godparents should evaluate themselves in light of the Church’s norms. A godparent for a Catholic baptism must:
- Be a Catholic
- Meet the age requirement recognized in the diocese where the baptism takes place
- Have been confirmed and have received the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist
- Lead a life of faith in keeping with the role to be undertaken
- Be eligible to receive the sacraments and not be bound by any ecclesiastical penalty
- Not be the mother or father of the child to be baptized
(from Canon Law, Can. 874)
If a person is not Catholic, but is a baptized Christian who belongs to a non-Catholic denomination, he may participate, together with a sponsor (godparent), as a witness of the baptism (Canon Law, Can. 874.2).
Likewise, a Catholic may participate as a witness of a non-Catholic baptism, but not as a godparent. Catholics sometimes wonder why they cannot be godparents at non-Catholic baptisms. It often seems as though the Catholic party could do a great deal of good—up to and including the later conversion of the child to Catholicism. However, the Church has practical reasons for not allowing this. The 1993
Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism …explains:It is the Catholic understanding that godparents, in a liturgical and canonical sense, should themselves be members of the Church or ecclesial Community in which the baptism is being celebrated. They do not merely undertake a responsibility for the Christian education of the person being baptized (or confirmed) as a relation or friend; they are also there as representatives of a community of faith, standing as guarantees of the candidate’s faith and desire for ecclesial communion. (no. 98)…Thus, a Catholic may not serve as a godparent for a non-Catholic baptism, but may serve as a witness.
Similarly, a non-Catholic may serve as a witness to a Catholic baptism, but may not serve in the official capacity of godparent. Just as a Catholic cannot promise to help raise a child in a non-Catholic faith, a non-Catholic cannot assent to the promise to help raise a child in the Catholic faith.
…The exception to these norms is in relation to Eastern Orthodox Churches. The
Directory on Ecumenism states:Because of the close communion between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches, it is permissible for a just cause for an Eastern faithful to act as godparent, together with a Catholic godparent, at the baptism of a Catholic infant or adult, so long as there is provision for the Catholic education of the person being baptized, and it is clear that the godparent is a suitable one.A Catholic is not forbidden to stand as godparent in an Eastern Orthodox Church, if he/she is so invited. In this case, the duty of providing for the Christian education binds in the first place the godparent who belongs to the Church in which the child is baptized. (no. 98b)
