For Godparents, what are we required to do

[timmyo]

I have a big dilema. I don’t have any relationship with more than 1 person I know who really practices 100% of their Catholic faith or at least tries to the best of their knowledge. Almost everyone else, both friends and family, falls short of a full practicing Catholic. These people are all baptized, confirmed etc., but the main offense with most of the people I know is that they do not attend church every week. My infant’s baptism is coming up soon and I haven’t picked a godmother. The candidate we were thinking of is a family member and family order would say that she is the next person in line to be the godmother. I honestly don’t think she would make a good godmother. She had her tubes tied and lived with her husband before marriage among other things. Should I chose someone else who may not be 100% in line with the church, but is closer to the church. Should I pick the lesser of two evils?

Another option I was thinking of was to chose the godmother of our first child, who is a good practicing Catholic. Chosing this person twice will cause a lot of grief in the family, but I feel it is the moral thing to do. What is the right thing to do here? Thanks in advance.

 

[Jamie_Burns]

Being a Godparent is not an honour, it is a big responsibility, particularly in these times. Choosing a godparent who does not follow the church’s teaching is essentially wasting an opportunity to have one more example, and one more person to promote the faith as your child grows up.

My wife and I are godparents for both of her sister’s children, and there was no one complaining that it was someone elses “turn”.
Also if you choose the same godparent for both children, the godparent will have even a closer bond with your family, and more chances to catechise, which is a responibility of the godparent.

 

[asquared]

we faced a similar dilemma, and when asked why we passed over the next “logical candidate” we responded with polite surprise, “Oh, we did not want to offend you by asking you to take part in a Catholic ceremony. We assumed you have rejected the Church since you no longer practice the faith. We did not want to put you on the spot.”