If the parents of children to be confirmed are divorced, and the father has received an annulment from the church, can he be a sponsor for one of his children making his confirmation. Can an exception be made for the father. The stepfather, who is also divorced and I doubt if he has an annulment otherwise they would have been married in the Church, can he be a sponsor for the child making his confirmation. (The father has been told that the stepfather is to be the sponsor)
Linda
Here are the canon law requirements for a Confirmation sponsor:
Can. 892 Insofar as possible, there is to be a sponsor for the person to be confirmed; the sponsor is to take care that the confirmed person behaves as a true witness of Christ and faithfully fulfills the obligations inherent in this sacrament.
Can. 893 §1.
To perform the function of sponsor, a person must fulfill the conditions mentioned in ⇒ can. 874.
§2. It is desirable to choose as sponsor the one who undertook the same function in baptism.
Can. 874 §1. To be permitted to take on the function of sponsor a person must:
1/ be designated by the one to be baptized, by the parents or the person who takes their place, or in their absence by the pastor or minister and have the aptitude and intention of fulfilling this function;
2/ have completed the sixteenth year of age, unless the diocesan bishop has established another age, or the pastor or minister has granted an exception for a just cause;
3/ be a Catholic who has been confirmed and has already received the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist
and who leads a life of faith in keeping with the function to be taken on;
4/ not be bound by any canonical penalty legitimately imposed or declared;
5/
not be the father or mother of the one to be baptized.
Therefore:
(a) the father of the confirmandii cannot be his/her sponsor (Canon 874.5) and, no, there cannot be an exception made to this
(b) the stepfather cannot be the sponsor for the confirmandii if he is in an invalid marriage (Canon 874.3)
Canon 893 indicates that the baptismal sponsor (Godparent) should be the confirmation sponsor, if possible.
