Godparents and Contraception

[joclucsylv]

What if they were already your child’s Godparents and they went and had the procedure done? What would you do then? I am just wondering.

 

[jonnyblaze]

What if they were already your child’s Godparents and they went and had the procedure done? What would you do then? I am just wondering.

Good question. Not really sure to be honest with you. Probably would try to approach the topic in some sort of non-threatening way (e.g., talking generally about the Church’s teachings, bringing up JPII’s Theology of the Body, etc. and trying to transition into it if the Lord opened up an opportunity).

But at that point, there would be no explicit decision to be made on my part, so I would not have quite the same urgency of moral obligation that I believe I do in this case. Nonetheless, I might determine that it would be appropriate to speak to my son at least in general terms about the need to follow all of the Church’s core teachings, even the *really *hard ones. And explain that sometimes even really good people screw this up… basically try and use it as a teaching tool for him (depending on age/maturity) without necessarily divulging all the details.

 

[Seatuck]

You know, I’ll cross that bridge at the appropriate time. Generally speaking, I would consider “rectification” as showing some sort of repentance. But yea I might require more from them (i.e., a reversal) to be MY CHILD’S GODPARENTS than the bare minimum the Church teaches. Look, I want the best for my child and it’s not as if me not choosing them as godparents somehow condemns them to eternal damnation.

It will impact my child the same way that any other sin impacts the community. You do believe that there is a communal aspect to sin, no? I do not know the exact manifestation that might take place, but I do know that if evil is allowed to fester in a situation, it will ultimately rear its ugly head and impact large quantities of people involved in that situation. I would prefer to protect my child from that.

Seriously , you would hold them to more than the church holds them too? I’m not saying that you are wrong to carefully consider many things when choosing Godparents. Especially since they might actually teach your child something that is wrong if they either believe the wrong thing or know the church teaching and disobey it.
Good luck finding sinless Godparents, though.

 

[jonnyblaze]

Seriously , you would hold them to more than the church holds them too? I’m not saying that you are wrong to carefully consider many things when choosing Godparents. Especially since they might actually teach your child something that is wrong if they either believe the wrong thing or know the church teaching and disobey it.
Good luck finding sinless Godparents, though.

The Church also teaches that to be considered practicing you need only go to confession once a year. I don’t think I would choose someone as a godparent that really clung to that teaching as justification for their absence from the confessional either. Just saying. Sometimes the requirements are the bare minimum…

But it’s most definitely not about finding sinless godparents. By that standard I surely wouldn’t allow myself to my son’s father. It’s about teaching him the right standards that he should hold himself up to, even as he continues to fail over and over again (like his old man).