How well do you know your godparents?

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My husband and I were talking about Godparents and baptism. Our kids will likely have godparent we don’t know, and probably never will interact with because we just don’t know any Catholics in good standing.

How common is this? Were your godparents a large part of your life when you were growing up?
 
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Mine were a large part of our family life,practicing Catholics and friends of my parents and have passed on now,God bless them.My children’s God parents are mostly my own brothers and sisters who are firm Catholics.
 
My godfather died several years ago, but I was never particularly close to him (family issues that developed). I see my godmother regularly.
 
mrsdizzyd said:
How common is this? Were your godparents a large part of your life when you were growing up?
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Mine are an aunt and uncle.
mrsdizzyd said:
My husband and I were talking about Godparents and baptism. Our kids will likely have godparent we don’t know, and probably never will interact with because we just don’t know any Catholics in good standing.
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If you don’t need to find godparents soon I would get involved with the parish and hope to meet people that way. If you do end up with someone you don’t know I’d make an effort to get to know them. It may not work, but you may end up with a new friend.

Personally, none of my family are models of the faith that I’d want for my children. I’m hoping that I marry someone with better examples. If I don’t I’ll probably ask someone from my locsl pro life group. Failing that, I’ll be in your boat.
 
I only had a godmother - my sister 🙂

Can only remember my youngests’ Baptism, and my mother was the godparent then, as she was the only other Catholic person in the town whom I knew.
 
My godparents were an aunt and uncle on my mom’s side, so they were pretty involved in my life. They lived a couple states away so we didn’t see them in person more than a couple times a year, but my mom was always in touch with them, writing, calling etc, especially my aunt.

I wish I could say I was close to these people but the unfortunate fact is that as a child I didn’t like them very much for various reasons. They were good people, and they didn’t do anything mean or hurtful, but the overall family dynamic of how they and my mom got along, and some of their personal habits, and their inability to relate to an only child (me) because they both had huge families and had come from a big family, just got on my nerves. I was frankly relieved they didn’t live close by because it was a strain having to spend time around them for the family visits every year.

My mom and dad were godparents to one of the neighbor kids because I think their parents didn’t have any other Catholics handy by the time they got around to their fourth kid, and Mom would give him gifts for his First Communion and see him around the neighborhood but she wasn’t really involved in his life. Interestingly, he and his sibs came to my mom’s funeral even though I hadn’t seen two of them in literally decades (the third one still lives in my old neighborhood so I do see her). I was touched that they came and amused to see that Mom’s little godson was now about 6 foot 5 inches tall.
 
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Mt god parents left the Church shortly after my baptism.
Then they got divorced a couple years later.
He’s dead now, but I think she’s still alive.
 
My Godparents are one of my aunts and uncles. I didn’t really speak to them any more or less than my other uncles/aunts growing up. And once I became an adult, I almost never spoke to them.
 
I see my Godmother at least once a week she lives a block away from me I see my Godfather twice a year.
 
Nothing is certain also when you pick Catholics in good standing and that you know well (siblings in my case). One of the godparents of my child went in few years from attending Sunday Mass every week and living a life according to Church teachings to becoming very anti-Catholic.
 
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I was/am very close with both my godparents, they are an uncle and my father’s cousin (since he had no siblings).

They both were not devout Catholics and growing up I saw them both make many major decisions that contradicted what the church teaches. It did contribute to my belief growing up that you “don’t have to do everything the church says to be catholic.”

For my own son I picked people who I know won’t be very close to him but that are Catholics who take the faith seriously.
 
I don’t know mine at all. I was born in 1964 and they moved away from the town where I was raised when I was a toddler. Honestly, I’d have to look at my baptismal cert to find their names.
 
From previous conversations here at CAF I’m aware that my case is pretty unusual, but if you consider a baptized non-Catholic convert’s sponsor his godparent, then I can claim to know my godmother very well indeed. She is my wife. She is a cradle Catholic and we were already grandparents when I converted. The priest who handled my conversion appointed her as my sponsor and that was that.
 
Very little.

A cousin and his wife of my father. They lived 50~100 miles from us, but I can only vaguely recall visiting their home one time (I have no idea what was the occasion). I remember inviting them to my wedding and I am pretty sure they came, which would be the last time I saw them.

Today I do not know if they are alive or dead.
 
My godfather was my mother’s older brother.

My godmother situation was a bit unusual. My godmother was my mother’s younger sister; my godmother by proxy (under the rules at that time) was my mother’s older sister.

They all lived in our general area and I saw them a lot. They didn’t specifically provide me with religious training; I had a mother who did that.

I always had a closer bond with my godparents than with my other aunts and uncles; for example, the godparents would always send me a birthday card. Similarly, my mother gave her godchild (my godfather’s son) graduation gifts for both high school and college.
 
I have a sponsor due to being baptized at a Christian denomination which the Church recognizes the baptism as valid.
We’re close but she just gave birth to a second child- I want to check upon her after she is doing much better.
 
Thank you all for sharing your experiences. Seems like some people have close relationships with their godparents while many do not. I feel a bit better about our situation now. I was afraid my kids would really be missing out if we weren’t close with their godparents.
 
My Godparents were an aunt and an uncle, not married to each other. The uncle was my father’s bother and the aunt was, you guessed it, my mother’s sister. I really didn’t have much to do with them, nor they with me.

On the other hand, my Godchildren, are a different story. I have 7.

Two are Goddaughters that I have know what seems like forever and I am very involved in their lives.

Two Godchildren are neighbors, and I see them, and talk whenever we can. They are both college students/working, so their time is limited, but they both know that I am here. We sometimes have “coffee” to check in with each other.

And three of my Godchildren are siblings. On the day they were baptized, I didn’t know them at all. They didn’t have a Godparent. And their mom and I believe that God brought us together. Last year they moved about 250 miles away. In May, my husband and I drove to their parish to attend the youngest child’s first communion. And then we had dinner with them. I love this family and I feel enriched to know them. I pray for them and I know that they pray for me.

So, by having someone that they didn’t really know, they were able to expand their family circle. And I was as well.
 
maryjk said:
So, by having someone that they didn’t really know, they were able to expand their family circle. And I was as well.
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I hope and pray that happens with us!

I always wished I had involved Godparents. I big part of me wants my kids to have what I didn’t have.
 
I think it is important to chose someone very involved in their own faith. Maybe even someone you know is involved in life in the parish. Someone that goes to parish dinners, coffee and donuts or is a part of prayer groups. That way you have the chance to see them outside of Mass.
 
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