Catholic Christian Witness?

[puzzleannie]

For my nephew’s Baptism I have been asked to be Godparent… clarified Christian Witness since I am not a practicing Catholic. The Priest is saying I cannot participate as either since I am a ‘Catholic’.

I was born into a Catholic family, Baptised and got Holy Communion but did not get Confirmed since as a teenager I decided the religion was not right for me. I am a very spiritual person and want to be a ‘godparent’ to my nephew. The Godmother is a practicing Cathoic so no issue there. What interpretive room is there here so I can be the Godfather or Christian Witness?

short answer, the priest has assumed you cannot be a Christian witness because you appear in his eyes, and by your account her, to have rejected Christian teaching and practice.

 

[thistle]

For my nephew’s Baptism I have been asked to be Godparent… clarified Christian Witness since I am not a practicing Catholic. The Priest is saying I cannot participate as either since I am a ‘Catholic’.

I was born into a Catholic family, Baptised and got Holy Communion but did not get Confirmed since as a teenager I decided the religion was not right for me. I am a very spiritual person and want to be a ‘godparent’ to my nephew. The Godmother is a practicing Cathoic so no issue there. What interpretive room is there here so I can be the Godfather or Christian Witness?

You seem reluctant or embarassed to answer other posters questions about your faith. You have clearly said you are not a practising Catholic any more.
What are you now? Baptist, Methodist, Anglican etc or are you not any type of Christian now?
Why won’t you tell us what you are? It would actually help us to give you proper answers.

 

[Phemie]

For my nephew’s Baptism I have been asked to be Godparent… clarified Christian Witness since I am not a practicing Catholic. The Priest is saying I cannot participate as either since I am a ‘Catholic’.

I was born into a Catholic family, Baptised and got Holy Communion but did not get Confirmed since as a teenager I decided the religion was not right for me. I am a very spiritual person and want to be a ‘godparent’ to my nephew. The Godmother is a practicing Cathoic so no issue there. What interpretive room is there here so I can be the Godfather or Christian Witness?

You don’t qualify as either.
You are a non-practicing Catholic so you don’t meet the “lives a life of faith which befits the role to be undertaken” requirement to be a Godfather.
You are a non-practicing Catholic so you don’t meet the *"**belongs to a non-Catholic ecclesial community" *requirement to be a Christian Witness.

As for being the godfather at a previous baptism, well, priest make mistakes. It’s not rare to find that a priest presumed that the parents knew the requirements and were following them. That’s why, in my parish, I’ve run into children who have NO godparent because the priest was wrong and both persons chosen by the parents were non-Catholic. It caused no end of problems when they presented their second child for baptism and Canon Law was followed.

 

[thistle]

You don’t qualify as either.
You are a non-practicing Catholic so you don’t meet the “lives a life of faith which befits the role to be undertaken” requirement to be a Godfather.
You are a non-practicing Catholic so you don’t meet the *"**belongs to a non-Catholic ecclesial community" *requirement to be a Christian Witness.

As for being the godfather at a previous baptism, well, priest make mistakes. It’s not rare to find that a priest presumed that the parents knew the requirements and were following them. That’s why in my parish, I’ve run into children who have NO godparent because the priest was wrong and both persons chosen by the parents were non-Catholic. It caused no end of problems when they presented their second child for baptism and Canon Law was followed.

You are correct. My asking the OP what he is now is not relevant because he is a baptised and non-practising Catholic. He CANNOT be a sponsor or a witness.

 

[Cristiano]

Just for clarification, the Church does not refer to herself as a Catholic ecclesial community. The term “ecclesial community” is used in reference to Protestants. It comes from the authoritative document “Dominus Iesus”, which was written by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger when he served as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

You are making a generalization that it is not proven. While it is true that “Dominus Iesus” refers to protestant denominations, It does not imply that the Catholic Church is not an ecclesial community. Are you saying that the Catholic Church is not an ecclesial community? Can you please show me where it says that the Church cannot be defined as an ecclesial community? Why would Canon Law make the point of specifying non-Catholic if it is that obvious in Church lingo?

 

[benedictgal]

You are making a generalization that it is not proven. While it is true that “Dominus Iesus” refers to protestant denominations, It does not imply that the Catholic Church is not an ecclesial community. Are you saying that the Catholic Church is not an ecclesial community? Can you please show me where it says that the Church cannot be defined as an ecclesial community? Why would Canon Law make the point of specifying non-Catholic if it is that obvious in Church lingo?

No, I am not making an improper generalization. We are not some ecclesial community, we are the Church. We need to use proper terminology.

 

[Cristiano]

No, I am not making an improper generalization. We are not some ecclesial community, we are the Church. We need to use proper terminology.

So if I understand correctly you are saying that the terms “ecclesia militans, ecclesia penitens, ecclesia triumphans” are also improper. I think that you are stating your preferences and presenting them as rules.

 

[benedictgal]

So if I understand correctly you are saying that the terms “ecclesia militans, ecclesia penitens, ecclesia triumphans” are also improper. I think that you are stating your preferences and presenting them as rules.

No, rather, with all due respect, I believe my words are being twisted. “Ecclesial communities” are what the Church uses to describe the Protestant groups. “Ecclesia” is Latin for Church. The context that you used is more along the lines of what the Protestants are referred to in the documents.

The OP stated that he is a baptized Catholic, but, he has since moved on to another Protestant ecclesial community. In his case, based on the documents that I have read, he really could not be a godparent because he needs to be in communion with the Church. He needs to be a practicing Catholic because he needs to provide a solid example of living the Faith of the Church to the newly baptized. Even acting as a Christian witness is a little problematic because, as I see it, he does not subscribe to the teachings of the Church that he left. This is not an attempt at being judgmental, but, you can’t really witness to something that you don’t believe. To relegate the Church as just another ecclesial community would be, in essence, to subscribe to relativism.

 

[alglng]

Thanks all… you’ve been very helpful!

 

[Mumbles140]

Thanks all… you’ve been very helpful!

Glad to help - and I hope you see this moment as one where God is calling you back to the Church. I know it probably seems easy for people on here to tell you to go back to the Church and that this is a sign, and that’s because most of us have been there. Maybe not to the extent of leaving the Church, but I personally found myself attending mass with less frequency for a period of time in college, even though I had a Church on campus.

But when my brother asked me to be the Godfather of his first child, that thought reinvigorated my love of Christ and hatred of sin, and I began receiving the sacraments of the Eucharist and Reconciliation more regularly. Please don’t brush this away, because my prayers are truly with you in this matter.

God bless!