Guidelines for Godparents by Proxy

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Ophelia23

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I recently asked an Apologist a question, which they answered via private message. However, I still have not found a complete answer to my question, which is why I thought to post here as well.

I had originally asked whether Godparents by proxy were acceptable or not. My husband and I currently live in an area where we do not have any Catholic family members, and our Catholic friends are quite limited as well. However, we have several good Catholic families we are close to in my home state. We are looking to choose the godparents for our next little one, and were considering asking two of our friends from the other state. Both would be unable to attend the actual baptism, hence the question of whether a proxy could be used or not.

The second half of my question was, if a proxy is acceptable, do they also need to be practicing Catholics? Or can they merely be a Christian witness?

The apologist gave me the following link that was very helpful:

jimmyakin.com/2006/03/proxies.html

However, this link doesn’t discuss the criteria for who can be a proxy. Specifically, I am trying to find if the proxy must be Catholic. If they must, then we will have someone from my husband’s Knights council stand in. But if they can be Christian witnesses (non Catholic) then we have very close Lutheran friends who we would prefer to have stand with us.

Thoughts?
 
Ophelia23 said:
I recently asked an Apologist a question, which they answered via private message. However, I still have not found a complete answer to my question, which is why I thought to post here as well.

I had originally asked whether Godparents by proxy were acceptable or not. My husband and I currently live in an area where we do not have any Catholic family members, and our Catholic friends are quite limited as well. However, we have several good Catholic families we are close to in my home state. We are looking to choose the godparents for our next little one, and were considering asking two of our friends from the other state. Both would be unable to attend the actual baptism, hence the question of whether a proxy could be used or not.

The second half of my question was, if a proxy is acceptable, do they also need to be practicing Catholics? Or can they merely be a Christian witness?

The apologist gave me the following link that was very helpful:

jimmyakin.com/2006/03/proxies.html

However, this link doesn’t discuss the criteria for who can be a proxy. Specifically, I am trying to find if the proxy must be Catholic. If they must, then we will have someone from my husband’s Knights council stand in. But if they can be Christian witnesses (non Catholic) then we have very close Lutheran friends who we would prefer to have stand with us.

Thoughts?
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By proxy, do you mean the friends of your from another state or the person who will actually be standing there at the Baptism?

EDIT: Nevermind, I think I understand now. :o

Since the proxy is not the actual godparent but just a stand in, I’m not sure if the same rules apply to them or not with regards to being practicing Catholics. That’s a good question. Have you asked your priest?
 
Joe_5859 said:
By proxy, do you mean the friends of your from another state or the person who will actually be standing there at the Baptism?

EDIT: Nevermind, I think I understand now. :o

Since the proxy is not the actual godparent but just a stand in, I’m not sure if the same rules apply to them or not with regards to being practicing Catholics. That’s a good question. Have you asked your priest?
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My plan is definitely to speak with him the next time I see him, but I thought I would put my best efforts into finding an answer first. I’m being a tad impatient, methinks. 😊 🙂
 
We had a proxy for our youngest’s godfather. The priest suggested that we look for a practicing Catholic. The irony is that said godfather was actually a Christian witness (nobody bothered to explain the difference at the time) whose proxy was a devout Catholic.

In the former Cathedral parish the parents were not allowed to pick the proxy, the proxy was picked by the person he/she was representing - which makes sense.
 
Phemie said:
We had a proxy for our youngest’s godfather. The priest suggested that we look for a practicing Catholic. The irony is that said godfather was actually a Christian witness (nobody bothered to explain the difference at the time) whose proxy was a devout Catholic.

In the former Cathedral parish the parents were not allowed to pick the proxy, the proxy was picked by the person he/she was representing - which makes sense.
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😦 It makes sense but I hope it isn’t the case. The friends in my home state don’t know anybody here to appoint on their behalf.
 
Ophelia23 said:
😦 It makes sense but I hope it isn’t the case. The friends in my home state don’t know anybody here to appoint on their behalf.
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If that was the case, I’m sure you could “recommend” a proxy for your friends to choose and they could easily oblige you. 🙂
 
Joe_5859 said:
If that was the case, I’m sure you could “recommend” a proxy for your friends to choose and they could easily oblige you. 🙂
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Well good thinking there, Joe! I painted a little black box for a moment and couldn’t see outside of it. Sometimes simple answers are the best… 🙂
 
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