Church saying no to your Confirmation Sponsors

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In RCIA a distinction is made between sponsor and godparent. They can be one and the same but they need not be. You can be assigned a sponsor but you get to choose your godparent. Godparent takes over from the sponsor at a specific time, Rite of Election IIRC.
 
That is not my understanding and I’ve been involved with RCIA for many years. Those who wanted to choose were able to choose as long as the sponsor met the criteria in canon law. If they didn’t know anyone appropriate the RCIA director would help find someone. For those receiving all the sacraments of initiation through RCIA they have a sponsor. It appears the term Godparent is only when the one to be baptized is a child.

I found this online:

What is the difference between a godparent and a sponsor?
As nouns the difference between godparent and sponsor
is that godparent is the person who stood for a child during a naming ceremony or baptism while sponsor is sponsor
 
Phemie said:
Over the years I‘ve looked at canon law and have never found anything either permitting or forbidding proxies for Baptism. Maybe I missed it.
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Right. I think it used to be there explicitly, prior to the 1983 code.
 
Horton said:
That is not my understanding and I’ve been involved with RCIA for many years. Those who wanted to choose were able to choose as long as the sponsor met the criteria in canon law. If they didn’t know anyone appropriate the RCIA director would help find someone. For those receiving all the sacraments of initiation through RCIA they have a sponsor. It appears the term Godparent is only when the one to be baptized is a child.

I found this online:

What is the difference between a godparent and a sponsor?
As nouns the difference between godparent and sponsor
is that godparent is the person who stood for a child during a naming ceremony or baptism while sponsor is sponsor
Click to expand...
I’m pretty sure that canon law currently only uses the term sponsor in either case.
 
Phemie said:
I know the Church uses sponsor for both the person who journeys with you through RCIA and godparents. At least in the Canadian Rite it is made clear that the person who accompanies you from the beginning of your journey need not be the sponsor/godparent who stands at your Baptism.
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I think the person who wrote this is making a distinction where there is none. A sponsor is a canonical function. While it is important to have someone accompany you throughout the RCIA process, that person is not a sponsor. A sponsor is the person who stands at your Baptism and/or Confirmation and assumes the role that the Church has defined. I think it is confusing and problematic that they are using the term “sponsor” and assigning it new meaning, one that is not the same as its meaning in canon law.

From the website you provided:
A sponsor makes a commitment for the period of the catechumenate , which is at least one full liturgical year. It could be longer, depending upon the readiness of the catechumen. A godparent makes a commitment for life.
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The sponsor accompanies the catechumen or baptized candidate to Mass every week and to other parish functions. The sponsor participates in the weekly catechetical sessions. In addition, the sponsor meets frequently, at least weekly, with the catechumen or baptized candidate to talk about how God is working in both of their lives.
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The duties of a sponsor or godparent require a close physical proximity . It is not possible for a sponsor or godparent adequately fulfill his or her responsibilities if he or she does not live within in driving distance of the parish.
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Sure, if you’re talking about the duties that this person has added to what the Church requires.

The person who wrote these guidelines obviously has some definite opinions as to the different roles of a baptismal sponsor and confirmation sponsor, but the Church doesn’t make the distinction. It is for this reason that the Church strongly recommends that the Confirmation sponsor is the same person as the baptismal sponsor, commonly called a Godparent.

Obviously, the needs will be different whether we are talking about an infant baptism vs. an adult convert to the faith, but the role is the same.

From canon law:
Insofar as possible, one to be baptized is to be given a sponsor who is to assist an adult in Christian initiation, or, together with the parents, to present an infant at the baptism, and who will help the baptized to lead a Christian life in harmony with baptism, and to fulfill faithfully the obligations connected with it
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Can. 892 As far as possible the person to be confirmed is to have a sponsor. The
sponsor’s function is to take care that the person confirmed behaves as a true witness of
Christ and faithfully fulfils the duties inherent in this sacrament.
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The person who journeys through RCIA with a catechumen is definitely called a sponsor in the Rite itself. And it does differentiate between the person who accompanies you (sponsor) and your godparent (also sponsor). There comes a time in the process when the Rite says that if your sponsor is not to be your godparent then your godparent must have been chosen early enough to accompany you to the Rite of Election. Then it continues to call your godparent your sponsor because that is the term the Church uses for godparent.
 
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