Does Divorce Disqualify a "Godparent"?

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saayachan

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Hi everyone! We are expecting a little girl in September and are trying to plan accordingly for her Baptism. We are extremely limited since most of my family no longer practices Catholicism (or Christianity period) and my husband’s family is strict Southern Baptist. We have a good friend of ours who is Catholic who we would love to be the sponsor. However, he and his wife of 17 years divorced last year. He didn’t want the divorce but signed the papers after months of refusing. All in all, does divorce penalize someone out of being able to sponsor a child at baptism? I’d like to know before asking him directly. Thank you! 🙂
 
Divorce by itself does not disqualify a person from being a sponsor. Being divorced and remarried outside the Church would disqualify a person.

You can certainly ask your priest about it if you are unsure.
 
Congratulations on your new little one on the way! I’m no authority on this, but I think in order to be a sponsor for Baptism or Confirmation a person must, if married, have done so within the laws of the Church. So I would assume that as long as your divorced friend is not remarried without an annulment he would be good to go for being a godparent. @acanonlawyer please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
 
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Right. Of course, if a person initiated the divorce because (for example) they had a mistress on the side, they would still not be a suitable candidate for a sponsor even if they did not marry this mistress. But that doesn’t seem to be the case for the OP.
 
“Does divorce disqualify a godparent”? No, it doesn’t (at least, there is no such general rule). Whether or not the person mentioned in the OP will be able to be a godparent in a specific circumstance depends on the decision of the one who oversees the baptism.

Dan
 
Joe_5859 said:
Divorce by itself does not disqualify a person from being a sponsor. Being divorced and remarried outside the Church would disqualify a person.
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What is your Magisterial source for this Joe?
 
Can. 872 In so far as possible, a person being baptised is to be assigned a sponsor. In the case of an adult baptism, the sponsor’s role is to assist the person in christian initiation. In the case of an infant baptism, the role is together with the parents to present the child for baptism, and to help it to live a christian life befitting the baptised and faithfully to fulfil the duties inherent in baptism.

Can. 873 One sponsor, male or female, is sufficient; but there may be two, one of each sex.

Can. 874 §1 To be admitted to undertake the office of sponsor, a person must:

1° be appointed by the candidate for baptism, or by the parents or whoever stands in their place, or failing these, by the parish priest or the minister; to be appointed the person must be suitable for this role and have the intention of fulfilling it;

2° be not less than sixteen years of age, unless a different age has been stipulated by the diocesan Bishop, or unless the parish priest or the minister considers that there is a just reason for an exception to be made;

3° be a catholic who has been confirmed and has received the blessed Eucharist, and who lives a life of faith which befits the role to be undertaken;

4° not labour under a canonical penalty, whether imposed or declared;

5° not be either the father or the mother of the person to be baptised.

§2 A baptised person who belongs to a non-catholic ecclesial community may be admitted only in company with a catholic sponsor, and then simply as a witness to the baptism.
 
Elf01 said:
What about dating after the divorce?
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That would be up to the pastor. I can see different scenarios here. For example, is the person dating, possibly even cohabitating, planning on getting remarried, and not at all interested in pursuing a declaration of nullity? Or is the person engaged in a chaste courtship while awaiting the final decision of the tribunal office regarding the nullity of the first marriage?
.
 
I’m not sure I get what you’re looking for. As Dan said, there is no general rule against it in Canon Law. Canon Law asks that a sponsor “be a catholic who has been confirmed and has received the blessed Eucharist, and who lives a life of faith which befits the role to be undertaken.” Someone who is divorced can still be a Catholic in good standing and able to go to Communion. So there’s no reason that such a person could not also be a sponsor. Of course, a lot will depend on the particulars.
 
Great! Thank you all so much for all of your insights. I figured I would ask around before bringing the topic up to our friend (I don’t want to make him feel bad if he ends up not being qualified). I’ll double-check with a priest before asking him to be the godparent. Thanks a bunch!
 
You stated:
Being divorced and remarried outside the Church would disqualify a person.
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I know of no ruling that states that.
The matter as far as I know is decided by a person (the minister) not by a non-seing rule as you state.

If you cannot find a black and white rule on the point to back up your interpretation of principles then I suggest you rephrase your response and accept its up to the judgement of a living Priest,
 
Its not simply up to the judgment of the priest. Its primarily up to the judgment of the parents bringing their child to Baptism.

Joe_5859 related that a divorce in itself is not something that should disqualify a person. A Catholic who “remarried outside the Church” would be a contradiction of “who lives a life of faith which befits the role to be undertaken”.

We certainly can decide for ourselves if that is the kind of person we want to attempt to ask the Ministerial priest to be Godparent.

Im quite convinced that that information could be witheld from the priest altogether, or even that some priests may be made aware, and yet approve anyway.

My own Godparents were not even Catholic! I didnt know, at the time, that they were not or that they even needed to be! I doubt the priest even knew the situation. Its alot easier for them to leave the judgment up to the candidates or the Infant’s parents.
 
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rcwitness said:
Joe_5859 related that a divorce in itself is not something that should disqualify a person. A Catholic who “remarried outside the Church” would be a contradiction of “who lives a life of faith which befits the role to be undertaken”.
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As someone who cannot take the guidance of priests your views are to be taken with a large handful of salt there RC.

Noone is denying the right of parents to choose the Godparents. The issue is whether they are disqualified for being remarried. There is no specific rule re disqualifying the remarried.

It is a matter of interpreting who has a life befitting the role or not. The final arbiter of that interpretation is the priest not laity. Given that some remarried can even receive Communion you would be wise to leave that assessment with their priest.

Therefore if parents want a remarried friend to be Godparent then they simply need to ask the priest baptising priest. He can make enquiries with the candidates own PP if he doesn’t know the person.

We get it that some types of people find it difficult to see the difference between principles and application of a principle in concrete life. You may be one of them given your well known views on CAF. That doesn’t make you right - esp as you aren’t a priest and have no comparable theological or pastoral experience.
 
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BlackFriar said:
As someone who cannot take the guidance of priests your views are to be taken with a large handful of salt there RC.
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You can make all the judments you want. And you can eat all the salt in the world. But you have no idea what you are talking about with my ability to take guidance from a priest.

The times i rejected guidance from priests were actually justified by the diocese. You like to ignore the fact that priests are fallible and give wrong advice sometimes.

Fortunately, I too have the Holy Spirit to guide me. And I dont ignore Him just because a priest is talking to me.

I agree that the priest can make a final decision. We just disagree whether its always right.
 
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In the end it doesn’t matter RC, that’s what you don’t get.
Obedience in a monastery is the greatest virtue not shaky personal views of objective perfection/truth when one is allegedly asking for guidance.
 
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If you truly seek “guidance” its your living superior and local and providentially given representative of God (in your case your PP). God expects no more.
But we’ve been over that countless times before.
 
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BlackFriar said:
If you truly seek “guidance” its your living superior and local and providentially given representative of God (in your case your PP). God expects no more.
But we’ve been over that countless times before.
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Ha! Just as long as you keep it a secret from the Bishop! And stifle your conscience.

How about if I truly seek guidance, I will contemplate Scripture, learn Church Teaching, Confess my sins, pray, and listen to my pastors (priest and Bishops).
 
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BlackFriar said:
It is a matter of interpreting who has a life befitting the role or not. The final arbiter of that interpretation is the priest not laity. Given that some remarried can even receive Communion you would be wise to leave that assessment with their priest.
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rcwitness can correct me if I am wrong but I have the feeling he is saying that if Catholics have divorced and remarried without an annulment then they would be in a state of mortal sin and living in a state of mortal sin with no intention to repent such people would not be living a life befitting the role of a Godparent.

Also you are wrong if you say that divorced Catholics remarried without an annulment may receive Communion. In a state of mortal sin you may not receive Communion.
 
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