Choosing godparents - help!

[TweetyBird]

I’m an “in process” revert, and only my eldest dd has been baptized. I have 2 other children who have not yet been baptized (ages 6 and 3.5 years), and we are also expecting a baby in December. My dh is “cultural” Catholic but does not attend mass regularly. In addition to having our children baptized, we also need to have our marriage convalidated.

We do not have any orthodox Catholic friends or family. My dh’s family is mostly in Mexico, and my family is not Catholic, with the exception of one aunt, who has not attended mass for years. My best friend and her husband are practicing Catholics (they attend mass weekly), though they do not agree with Church teaching on contraception. The couple are godparents to my oldest daughter.

Question: is it appropriate to ask my friend and her husband to serve as godparents for all of my children?

Of course, it would be nice to form close relationships with other Catholics, but at this very moment we don’t have any devout Catholic friends. I want to have my kids baptized and my marriage convalidated, but am not sure how to go about it since my family and friends are all either (a) agnostic and/or areligious, or (b) protestant.

Thanks!

 

[puzzleannie]

if you have one couple who would make good godparents, yes they can stand up for all your children. Also, in the process of preparing for convalidation, for reception of the other sacraments, and parent classes for your children’s sacraments, you will also be meeting other parishioners–your sponsor couple, other parents and those who assist with the classes for instance, and among them you may find the perfect godparents. If no one comes to mind, the priest can also appoint godparents if it comes to that.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

I’m an “in process” revert, and only my eldest dd has been baptized. I have 2 other children who have not yet been baptized (ages 6 and 3.5 years), and we are also expecting a baby in December. My dh is “cultural” Catholic but does not attend mass regularly. In addition to having our children baptized, we also need to have our marriage convalidated.

We do not have any orthodox Catholic friends or family. My dh’s family is mostly in Mexico, and my family is not Catholic, with the exception of one aunt, who has not attended mass for years. My best friend and her husband are practicing Catholics (they attend mass weekly), though they do not agree with Church teaching on contraception. The couple are godparents to my oldest daughter.

Question: is it appropriate to ask my friend and her husband to serve as godparents for all of my children?

Of course, it would be nice to form close relationships with other Catholics, but at this very moment we don’t have any devout Catholic friends. I want to have my kids baptized and my marriage convalidated, but am not sure how to go about it since my family and friends are all either (a) agnostic and/or areligious, or (b) protestant.

Thanks!

Normally they could be Godparents to all your children. Each child does not have to have a different Godparent. However “My best friend and her husband are practicing Catholics (they attend mass weekly), though they do not agree with Church teaching on contraception.” Technically they are NOT good practicing Catholics if they use ABC. So technically they would not qualify as Godparents.

I would suggest that you speak with your pastor during the Baptismal preparation and ask for the parish to supply some possible Godparents for you to speak with and choose from.

 

[RitaM]

If you have family in Mexico who would be appropriate godparents although they can’t make it here for the baptism, I believe that you can name them godparents and have proxies to stand in for them at the actual ceremony. I may be wrong, but I remember hearing something about this at a baptismal preparation class.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

If you have family in Mexico who would be appropriate godparents although they can’t make it here for the baptism, I believe that you can name them godparents and have proxies to stand in for them at the actual ceremony. I may be wrong, but I remember hearing something about this at a baptismal preparation class.

You are correct that is possible. The pastors of the two parishes would have to talk or communicate with each other for this to happen.