Can Godparents marry each other?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Penance94
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
P

Penance94

Guest
Pax Domini,
I have recently been doing some research concerning the rules and regulations relating to Godparents. And there is one question to which I cannot find an answer.
If two single Catholic are chosen as Godparents, are they canonically prohibited from marrying each other, some time in the future?
I know this the practice among the Orthodox, but I cannot find any authoritative statements about it, in the Roman Catholic Church.
 
Do you mean Godfather and Godmother to Baby A? (They aren’t related in any other way?)

I don’t see why it would be a problem…my Godparents were married…my son’s Godparents are married.
 
Yes,
Mr. X and Miss Y are both unmarried (and completely unrelated). They are asked to be Godparents to Baby A.
Can Mr. X and Miss Y marry each other after this?
I ask only because, in the East, there is a prohibition on such marriages, and I wondered if the same was true in the West. I know that married couples can be Godparents, but can the godparents later become a married couple?
 
Of course they may. Are you sure that in the East they prohibit marriage between two godparents? I believe they prohibit the marriage of a godparent to a godchild, as did the West until this latest code of Canon Law, I don’t know why they would prohibit the marriage of a child’s godparents.
 
Penance94 said:
Yes,
Mr. X and Miss Y are both unmarried (and completely unrelated). They are asked to be Godparents to Baby A.
Can Mr. X and Miss Y marry each other after this?
I ask only because, in the East, there is a prohibition on such marriages, and I wondered if the same was true in the West. I know that married couples can be Godparents, but can the godparents later become a married couple?
Click to expand...
I’ve never heard of such thing. When my priest had his daughter baptized, the godparents were his friend who’s also a priest and the wife of that priest.
 
Before my wife and I were engaged we became Godparents to one of my nephews. It was not an impediment to our marriage at all.
 
Phemie said:
Of course they may. Are you sure that in the East they prohibit marriage between two godparents? I believe they prohibit the marriage of a godparent to a godchild, as did the West until this latest code of Canon Law, I don’t know why they would prohibit the marriage of a child’s godparents.
Click to expand...
I might be wrong. Here are some sites that that info came from:
stvladimirnj.org/instructions.html
stvladimiraami.org/faqs.shtml#baby
orthodoxphotos.com/readings/beginning/wedding.shtml
So, there would be no impediment to the Godparents of a child marrying each other?
 
Mary_Gail_36 said:
Do you mean Godfather and Godmother to Baby A? (They aren’t related in any other way?)

I don’t see why it would be a problem…my Godparents were married…my son’s Godparents are married.
Click to expand...
Same here-- my aunt and uncle were my godparents and they were chosen for that role as a married couple. They were chosen AS a married couple to also physically raise me and my brothers if something happened to our parents. The thought was, “If they are good enough to be our godparents and raise us in our spiritual needs, then they’re good enough to meet our physical needs, too.”

-In Christ,

~Spoken4
 
CCEO Canon 811:
  1. From baptism there arises a spiritual relationship between a sponsor and the baptized person and the parents of the same that invalidates marriage.
  2. If a baptism is repeated under condition, a spiritual relationship does not arise, unless the same sponsor was employed for the second ceremony.
 
Just_Lurking said:
CCEO Canon 811:
  1. From baptism there arises a spiritual relationship between a sponsor and the baptized person and the parents of the same that invalidates marriage.
  2. If a baptism is repeated under condition, a spiritual relationship does not arise, unless the same sponsor was employed for the second ceremony.
Click to expand...
So apparently there is no impediment in the case I outlined?
 
While this may be prohibited in some of the Orthodox Churches, it is certainly NOT prohibited in the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church.

It is also NOT universal in all Orthodox Churches either.

I would love to know where this particular theology comes from. It is certainly not even implied anywhere in the Bible.
 
The_Old_Medic said:
While this may be prohibited in some of the Orthodox Churches, it is certainly NOT prohibited in the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church.

It is also NOT universal in all Orthodox Churches either.

I would love to know where this particular theology comes from. It is certainly not even implied anywhere in the Bible.
Click to expand...
Great, a friend of mine will be very glad to hear this.
Do you know of any ecclesiastical document or directive that mentions this, since Canon Law does not seem to have anything about it?
 
Penance94 said:
Do you know of any ecclesiastical document or directive that mentions this, since Canon Law does not seem to have anything about it?
Click to expand...
If it were an impediment it would be listed under the canons of impediments to valid marriage. Since it isn’t listed, it isn’t an impediment.

The Church does not issue documents on non-issues.
 
I know. But whats the difference between that and getting a married couple as godparents?
 
Phemie said:
Of course they may. Are you sure that in the East they prohibit marriage between two godparents? I believe they prohibit the marriage of a godparent to a godchild, as did the West until this latest code of Canon Law, I don’t know why they would prohibit the marriage of a child’s godparents.
Click to expand...
Just_Lurking said:
CCEO Canon 811:
  1. From baptism there arises a spiritual relationship between a sponsor and the baptized person and the parents of the same that invalidates marriage.
  2. If a baptism is repeated under condition, a spiritual relationship does not arise, unless the same sponsor was employed for the second ceremony.
Click to expand...
This is what Phemie is talking about. Its forbidden for a godparent to marry their godchild. But not for two godparents to marry each other.
 
ConstantineTG said:
This is what Phemie is talking about. Its forbidden for a godparent to marry their godchild. But not for two godparents to marry each other.
Click to expand...
Interestingly though, in the Eastern Code it is forbidden for a godparent to marry the parent of their godchild. Note that this is different than the definition of spiritual relationship used in the 1917 Latin Code.
 
Just_Lurking said:
Interestingly though, in the Eastern Code it is forbidden for a godparent to marry the parent of their godchild. Note that this is different than the definition of spiritual relationship used in the 1917 Latin Code.
Click to expand...
Yes, I failed to mention that too, thanks for pointing it out.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top