Godparents, You're Fired!

[RosaryFan]

Pray A LOT for her! God has not turned His back on her! It took me over 20 years and having my first son to bring me back, there is always hope! Looking back I can see many points in my life where the Holy Spirit intervened, where my guardian angel stopped me or turned me in another direction, or God stepped in. Many, many points that told me God had never left my side, and never will. Keep in touch with her, and pretend she is still Catholic (of course she is!), treat her no differently and let her know that you pray for her. And light candles!

I know. I really wouldn’t fire her. I was just trying to be funny. I pray for her (and her husband) every day. I told her that, too, when I refused to attend her “wedding”. I would never abandon her. I explained exactly why I couldn’t attend her wedding and she actually understood and accepted that. We still have a good relationship, but it breaks my heart to know that she has turned away from the truth. And so has her husband! Both born and raised Catholic, received their sacraments, including Confirmation, and they both decided (well, HE decided) that Catholicism wasn’t good enough. I do pray for their return to the Church every day. Every day, I ask the Blessed Mother to work in her the way she worked in me and to bring her and her husband back to the truth, the Eucharist, our beautiful Catholic faith.

 

[RosarioD]

And when you find out, let me know. I’d like to fire my Godchild! She turned her back on the Church.

Ditto…my godchild refuses to go to church, had to be forced to be confirmed (she did not want to attend CCD and confirmation classes; her single mother bribed her with a new cell phone so she went eventually ). That said, we need to remember that parents are the first teachers of children in faith formation. My second daughter was baptized and had proxy godparents (they live in Asia) yet grew up solid in the faith because I taught and showed by example.
No, I’m not firing my godchild, but no matter how many times I tell her to be grateful to God (by praying) for many blessings she has received, she just does not. Mom was not such a good example either.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

I know. I really wouldn’t fire her. I was just trying to be funny. I pray for her (and her husband) every day. I told her that, too, when I refused to attend her “wedding”. I would never abandon her. I explained exactly why I couldn’t attend her wedding and she actually understood and accepted that. We still have a good relationship, but it breaks my heart to know that she has turned away from the truth. And so has her husband! Both born and raised Catholic, received their sacraments, including Confirmation, and they both decided (well, HE decided) that Catholicism wasn’t good enough. I do pray for their return to the Church every day. Every day, I ask the Blessed Mother to work in her the way she worked in me and to bring her and her husband back to the truth, the Eucharist, our beautiful Catholic faith.

Do they have kids yet? I was a long way away from the Church before I got pregnant, would have answered, "I used to be a Catholic if anyone asked. Then came the day when that little blue plus showed up on the pregnancy test…and stuff started happening…and finally I looked at the baby son I had just given birth to, through the most excruciating pain I’d ever felt (but instantly forgot - what a mercy!), saw God’s love for me, his answer to all the prayers I’d never prayed, and came back home. Sometimes it felt like crawling over broken glass on my hands and knees, but I’ve never turned my face from God again.

I only write this to give you hope. Jesus said “Let the little ones come to me,” and sometimes, they bring us along with them.

 

[Corki]

Oh wouldn’t I like to! We enlisted my hubby’s sister as a godparent to our baby, only to find out 8 mos. later that she has been fallen away from the church since even before then. Now, she is doing openly anti-Catholic things and it really infuriates me. When we asked (she knows how devoted we are to the Church) why didn’t she let us know that she wasn’t a practicing Catholic anymore?

Well, the good part is that the baby’s godfather is a very devout Catholic, so hopefully he can make up the difference!

Wow, that’s exactly what happened to us. My SIL has become very anti-Catholic and has even tried to teach my sons some very bad stuff (ie abortion is ok, Jesus doesn’t want you to go to Mass all the time, etc.) When the kids were younger, I had to make sure to supervise them whenever they were with her. Now, they are better apoloists than I am and I let them have at her. Maybe keeping her as my oldest’s godmother will be good for her eventually.

Just like you, luckily the godfather was an excellent example of Catholic life. He died recently but for those formative years, he was a perfect godparent.

 

[MissRose73]

I am a Godparent to my sister’s 2 kids alongside my aunt & uncle. The kids were received into the church 2 years ago as my sister never had them baptized as infants as she is very much a lapsed Catholic. She and her now ex husband gave permission for my mother to take them to get instructed in the faith.

I am sure my aunt and uncle who are Godparents to her children wished that their Goddaughter (my sister) would return to the Church. Only thing they can do is pray for her, and love her, faults and all, plus be glad her children are being raised as Catholics (even though most of the instruction doesn’t come from her, it comes from other family members that practice the faith like my mother and me).

My Godfather is still Catholic but he lives far away so I do not know the extent of how he practices his faith (and if he still does). My Godmother (and also my confirmation sponsor when I was a teen) actively practices her faith & is involved with her church in several ministries.

 

[RosaryFan]

Do they have kids yet? I was a long way away from the Church before I got pregnant, would have answered, "I used to be a Catholic if anyone asked. Then came the day when that little blue plus showed up on the pregnancy test…and stuff started happening…and finally I looked at the baby son I had just given birth to, through the most excruciating pain I’d ever felt (but instantly forgot - what a mercy!), saw God’s love for me, his answer to all the prayers I’d never prayed, and came back home. Sometimes it felt like crawling over broken glass on my hands and knees, but I’ve never turned my face from God again.

I only write this to give you hope. Jesus said “Let the little ones come to me,” and sometimes, they bring us along with them.

No. They don’t have kids yet. They just got married a little over a year ago. I’m hoping that happens to them. However, I think her husband (who is now Evangelical), has a huge chip on his shoulder for the Catholic Church. She’s just going along for the ride. I don’t know how he persuaded her right out of her faith, but somehow, he did.

When they were meeting with a priest before their marriage, the priest asked them if they were going to raise their children Catholic. Of course, they responded, “No”, so he refused to marry them in the Catholic Church. I think the only reason they were going to even get married in a Catholic Church to begin with was to satisfy her parents (my aunt and uncle). So they ended up getting married in a protestant church by their Evangelical minister (if you can follow that), which of course, made them happy, but my aunt and uncle were crushed.

So there’s nothing left to do but hope, pray and wait and pray some more…

 

[TheRealJuliane]

No. They don’t have kids yet. They just got married a little over a year ago. I’m hoping that happens to them. However, I think her husband (who is now Evangelical), has a huge chip on his shoulder for the Catholic Church. She’s just going along for the ride. I don’t know how he persuaded her right out of her faith, but somehow, he did.

When they were meeting with a priest before their marriage, the priest asked them if they were going to raise their children Catholic. Of course, they responded, “No”, so he refused to marry them in the Catholic Church. I think the only reason they were going to even get married in a Catholic Church to begin with was to satisfy her parents (my aunt and uncle). So they ended up getting married in a protestant church by their Evangelical minister (if you can follow that), which of course, made them happy, but my aunt and uncle were crushed.

So there’s nothing left to do but hope, pray and wait and pray some more…

Oh dear. So according to the Church, their marriage is invalid. But they don’t care. For now, anyway…

Evangelicals can be VERY convincing and forceful with their anti-Catholic beliefs. There are plenty of Catholics, especially the poorly formed and hardly taught ones, who are vulnerable to this pressure. And on their side, it is one more heathen that they have converted.

 

[RosaryFan]

Oh dear. So according to the Church, their marriage is invalid. But they don’t care. For now, anyway…

Evangelicals can be VERY convincing and forceful with their anti-Catholic beliefs. There are plenty of Catholics, especially the poorly formed and hardly taught ones, who are vulnerable to this pressure. And on their side, it is one more heathen that they have converted.

Thanks for your words of encouragement. I know there’s always hope.

 

[Archangel2012]

Can you ‘fire’ your child’s Godparents? If you determine your child’s Godparents have become unfit to perform that role, can you replace them? Along the same vein, if they are now separated by great distances, can they also be replaced?

We’re fortunate to have GREAT Godparents for our child, but what about those who don’t?

High,

I am just as frustrated. My daughters Godparents split up when she was a year old. The godmother lives in the USA and her godfather lives in the UK and we live in South Africa. The Godfather never makes contact with her. She turned 13 yesterday and once again no birthday wishes etc. so she deleted him from her Facebook. I then saw the sadness in her eyes and disappointment. :nope: I then sent a message out to him and told him that what he is doing is not right. She sees pictures of him on Facebook having the time of his life with her cousins but not even a simple hello how are you. Happy birthday! He then replied to me with a long message but what stood out to me was what he said. “I am not close with her because she reminds me of the bad marriage I was in, and that she would not fine comfort in him and her lack of love she had to find at home.” I mean really!!! That just pushed me over the edge but I kept my calm and told him in a nice way not to worry anymore about her. :tsktsk:I have best friends that are more than willing to take that roll away from him and she loves them to bits. I just wish I could make it official in church. I am going to be putting it in my will though. Good luck to everyone else with their issues.

 

[Defiant74205]

What if the Godparents did not attend the baptism and never sign the document (although their name is printed in the document)? Can they be replaced?