Do you remember your Godparents?

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I have many fond memories of my godparents, +Uncle Joe and +Aunt Mary, both now of blessed memory.

As a Byzantine Catholic, they were not only my baptismal godparents but, one could say, my confirmation sponsor(s) as well, since I was baptised and confirmed (chrismated, as we in the Catholic East refer to it) as an infant during the same ceremony.

Ours was an extremely close, tight-knit ethnic neighborhood, so Uncle Joe and Aunt Mary lived right down the street as I was growing up (as did many other aunts and uncles!). Holidays were always shared “extended family” events (Easter was always the best, with the Divine Liturgy at midnight and a HUGE FEAST immediately following, usually starting about 2:30 AM or so and ending… well… ??? 😃 !).

Our Lord blessed me by allowing me the honor of being able to carry both Uncle Joe and Aunt Mary to their final rest… sorta like allowing me to somehow repay the favor of their many years of love and support.

Vic’naja pamjat!

a pilgrim
 
a pilgrim:
Ours was an extremely close, tight-knit ethnic neighborhood, so Uncle Joe and Aunt Mary lived right down the street as I was growing up (as did many other aunts and uncles!). Holidays were always shared “extended family” events (Easter was always the best, with the Divine Liturgy at midnight and a HUGE FEAST immediately following, usually starting about 2:30 AM or so and ending… well… ??? 😃 !).

Our Lord blessed me by allowing me the honor of being able to carry both Uncle Joe and Aunt Mary to their final rest… sorta like allowing me to somehow repay the favor of their many years of love and support.

Vic’naja pamjat!

a pilgrim
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That’s so nice that you lived so close to your family when you were growing up.
 
We had a baby girl almost 2 years ago. We selected my brother and sister-in-law as godparents. My brother had fallen away from the church, but had not renounced the church.

Just before the baptism, I was working up / praying how to ask him to go to confession with me. Then he called and said, “I just realized, I need to go to confession.” He has since come back more and more to his faith. I believe God used our little Mary Grace to help him on his journey.

Peace
 
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Annunciata:
I haven’t heard anyone mention CFM in years. My husband and I were active in that back in the 70s… I miss that so much.
Anyway, back to topic…My Godmother is deceased and my Godfather is a 4th degree in the KofC also a decorated World War II
Veteran. At 92, he is still sharp as a tack and I keep in touch with him with cards,calls and occasional visits. Annunciata:)
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If you are interested in the Couples for Christ, Please let me know…I will help you find a group in your ares.
 
i can say with confidence, that my God Parents were a definite factor in my remaining Catholic… They were the quintessential if not sterotypical God Parents… always interested in me, my life, my progression through Holy Mother Church…

My God Father died of Alzheimers approx 3 years ago… his wife, my God Mother and Aunt is still living, born in 1913 and still asking me about the religious education of my children…

Boy do i need to work on those kids… unfortunately, God Parents today, at least a bunch anyway don’t see their role being that prominent… and that is a definite poverty… :cool:
 
My Godfather is younger than I am. 😃
hmmm, maybe he should give his old goddaughter a call…😉
 
work(name removed by moderator)rogress8:
I was just wondering what the effect of your Godparents have been on your life. Do you even remember who your Godparents are? The reason I’m asking is because several family members got in a discussion on how they don’t remember who their Godparents were.

Thanks.
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Mine are still alive, the don’t affect me apart from my godmother giving me my first name.
 
My aunt and uncle are my godparents. I doubt my godfather even remembers that he IS my godfather. My godmother used to send very nice gifts for Christmas and my birthday, and now she sends very nice gifts to my kids.

Regarding proxies, my mom stood in for my eldest daughter’s godmother just five short years ago.

I am godfather to a boy being raised in a non-religious family. The kid’s poor younger brother isn’t even baptized some six years after his birth. I am also godfather to my niece. Her father is a practicing Catholic, so I’m sure I’ll have an opportunity to have a positive impact on her spiritual upbringing.
 
My godparents are my dad’s second-oldest brother and his younger sister. I can’t honestly say that they’ve had an impact on my faith one way or the other. I hardly see them- in fact, it’s been over a year since I last saw them. They’re always happy to see me, but due to dysfunctional family politics they are often not speaking to my parents, which makes things awkward.
 
I said no because I don’t think I have any…if my sponser was my God parent then I do remember her but she doesn’t contact me and hasn’t for a few years now. As for my children…their God parents who are living don’t remember them…

Why would you agree to be God parents if you don’t want to have anything to do with your God child? :confused:
 
Yes, big impact. One is a Carmelite nun, the other a Benedictine nun.
 
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Brendan:
My Uncle was my Sponsor at Confirmation and I took his patron saint as my Confirmation name,.
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I actually have more Godchildren than children! I felt it was a great honor.
All of them blessed me with being their confirmation sponors as well!
 
Being a godparent was a “sacred” duty when I was a child. If anything happened to your parents, your godparents were supposed to take care of you. My godparents were my mother’s sister and her husband (who was Italian). This little Irish kid went to parochial school in a predominately Italian parish and always maintained (and still does) that he is Italian because of his godfather.😃
 
What if you have children that need to be baptized and have no one to ask to be a God Parent. I have returned to the Church after a long abscence. I have two children ages 5 and 3. I have no one…and I truly mean NO ONE to be their God Parents? What do you do in this situation?
Jasm
 
Im 37. my godmother is my dad’s younger sister. she has left the church because of it’s teaching on divoerce. she has divorced a remarried. my god father is my dad’s younger brother. he has since become a paranoid schitzophrenic, and shot a mailman for putting his ssi check in the wrong mail box. good thing I didnt need to depend on gadparents for anything.
 
my Godfather (who is an older cousin) is in prison and my Godmother (who is my mother’s brother’s wife) hates my entire family, but no one really knows why. bleh.
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jasm:
What if you have children that need to be baptized and have no one to ask to be a God Parent. I have returned to the Church after a long abscence. I have two children ages 5 and 3. I have no one…and I truly mean NO ONE to be their God Parents? What do you do in this situation?
Jasm
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my confirmation sponser was my rcia teacher because i didn’t have anybody else to ask. she was wonderful though. for baptism, even a priest can be a godparent. ask at your rectory what you can do.
 
I have not spoken to my godfather in years. My godmother is related to me, so we keep in closer contact, but she left Catholicism for Judaism many years ago. Overall, I think that they had little impact in my spiritual life.
 
Yes, My Godmother meant the world to me, She was most certainly my second mother. I loved her very much and I just lost her two years ago to breast cancer. She taught me so much about Gods love by just showing me how to be a good person. I can’t wait to see her again one day, in heaven.🙂
 
I know who they are, but I don’t talk to them very often or see them much, maybe once a year. They haven’t had much of an influence on me (at least that I can see; maybe their prayers have), but that’s probably because both of our families moved. But I am really excited that I can choose a sponsor in Confirmation. I know that I will stay in contact with her (if she says yes, which she probably will. I still have to ask her).
 
I was fortunate to know my godparents pretty well, but hardly ever had a conversation about religion or anything spiritual with either of them – although my godmother was the one who caught me smoking when I was in second grade and made me promise to give it up before my First Communion:D

Years ago I came upon a small way to keep godparents in our lives. At the Baptism, parents, the one being Baptized, and godparents would each be given a blessed candle with the date and the respective role on it in lettering or coloring or in some other permanent manner. Then on the anniversary of the Baptism for twenty years, each person would light the candle, no matter where they might happen to be. Ideally this would be at a reunion where all the candles would be lit simultaneously. If not, the candles could be lit during a conference phone call or at least at a designated hour. This would serve as a reminder of the relationship they have to each other and also make the Baptismal anniversary meaningful to everyone involved.

The candles would be presented in a pouch inside a sturdy box so that they could withstand a few knocks over those years. They should be a good-sized candle, to last. The presenter could be the parish, which would have a good supply or be able to order them to fit the choices of each Baptismal party; or the candles could be purchased from a Catholic church goods store. (A good source of income for those of you who work from home – buy a few candles at first and do sample decorations and sample pouches and boxes; and then contact the parishes in your area and get orders. A very worthwhile way to bring in those scarce dollars.) Undecorated candles could also be purchased by the persons involved and decorated at a pre-Baptism party.

If this were done throughout the Church, everyone would be more conscious of their own Baptism and godparents might take their role as spiritual advisor more seriously. Also, someone “official” could write a prayer for such occasion.
 
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