Picking Godparents

  • Thread starter Thread starter MickeyR
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

MickeyR

Guest
Hi. I’m new to the forums. I’ve got a question about godparents. All of my friends are either lapsed catholic or atheist. How can I pick a god parent for my child if no one I’m close to is Catholic? (Same issue exists for my wife. Catholic friends have all stopped practicing). Any advice would help.
 
No Catholic relatives at all?

You should have at least a few Catholic friends- don’t you speak to anyone when you are in church?

I guess you can ask the parish priest for a recommendation
 
Thanks for the reply. Both my parents are deceased. My brothers no longer practice and my wife’s family converted to Baptist. I have Catholic friends but none practice. And, truth be told, I go to Mass for the sacrament not the conversation, so no one is close enough to us to take the role. I wouldn’t want just anybody to take the role if they are not going to be involved in my child’s life. I understand the purpose of godparent but wish it wasn’t necessary.
 
You can ask your pastor for recommendations. He should know the solid Catholics in the parish- and you may become friends with them as well 🙂
 
I would think you could ask a priest that you like to be the Godfather, separate from the priest who is performing the Baptism.
 
No real advice but I am facing this exact situation and you have my sympathy. I don’t think there is a happy solution for my family.
 
This is what my grandparents did for my father. They were far away from family and friends and their priest picked godparents for him
 
ConfusedLucy said:
No real advice but I am facing this exact situation
Click to expand...
Commit yourself to being a little bit more sociable when you are at church. Every parish has activities and meetings that may or may not be interested in. Try to attend one every couple of weeks, even if you aren’t interested.
 
I think this is a wonderful opportunity to become more involved with your parish community. Maybe take some time to attend something at your Parish other than the Mass and get to know your parish family. Out of this opportunity you may find a deeper connection to your local church and suitable Godparents.
 
Not an uncommon question and I want to affirm you for being concerned enough to want to find good godparents. Most people don’t realize the role affirming they would raise the child in the faith, where most would the just pick two family members they liked.

I was once at a parish where the parents asked a Jewish man to be the Godfather of their child. It was a great opportunity to explain what god parents were, and that they were vouching to see that that child was raised in the Christian faith.

They were a bit miffed, but the priest allowed the friend a place of honor as a “witness” to the baptism. That seem to satisfy the parents. (Btw-the priest also used it as an opportunity to witends to the Jewish man.)
 
Last edited:
What bugs me is I have read several other topics where people say parishes aren’t social clubs or that you often need to be in a parish for several years before people will talk to you. Either just focusing on the sacraments is good enough or it isn’t.
 
ConfusedLucy said:
What bugs me is I have read several other topics where people say parishes aren’t social clubs or that you often need to be in a parish for several years before people will talk to you. Either just focusing on the sacraments is good enough or it isn’t.
Click to expand...
Churches are social clubs in many ways, Lucy. This is why there are parish festivals and bingos and spaghetti dinners, Holy Name Society chapter and altar boy picnics at local amusement parks.

That doesn’t mean everyone has to be ultra sociable , but being at least somewhat open to some of the activities has a lot of positivity to it.
 
Every Catholic should have some active Catholic friends. Not for Godparent duties specifically, but just because it is a necessity. We all need friends and peers, and must make every effort to keep some other Catholics in our circle of friends.
 
Having been involved in this parish for 20 years I’d say ask Father to recommend a middle aged couple who could also be Nana & Papa to your child. There are such couples here who live far from their grandchildren and would like nothing more than to become godparents so they could have a child involved in their lives. I know it would make my heart sing to be asked to be a godparent to a child I’d have regular contact with.
 
Ask your pastor to recommend someone who will take it seriously and pray for your child.
This is a very COMMON occurance.
 
One of the keys to raising Catholic kids is that they grow up seeing other Catholic adults/families who socialize with their parents… at picnics or on shared vacations, that Catholics are normal.
 
Focus on the Sacraments is great, but humans are social animals. Surrounding ourselves with like-minded people helps us to be the best we can be.
 
Pope Francis speaks about this (bold mine):

THE SAINTS “NEXT DOOR”
  1. Nor need we think only of those already beatified and canonized. The Holy Spirit bestows holiness in abundance among God’s holy and faithful people, for “it has pleased God to make men and women holy and to save them, not as individuals without any bond between them, but rather as a people who might acknowledge him in truth and serve him in holiness”.[3] In salvation history, the Lord saved one people. We are never completely ourselves unless we belong to a people. That is why no one is saved alone, as an isolated individual. Rather, God draws us to himself, taking into account the complex fabric of interpersonal relationships present in a human community. God wanted to enter into the life and history of a people.
http://w2.vatican.va/content/france...tazione-ap_20180319_gaudete-et-exsultate.html
 
Sorry to hear that Lucy. I hope it worķs out for you and your family.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for all the suggestions. I appreciate the (name removed by moderator)ut.
I do volunteer at my parish but I’ve always focussed on Christ’s call to humility when praying or fasting and I sometimes feel the social aspect of volunteering or joining social groups at church become rewards instead of my actions remaining “service.”
I used to be a lector as well, but I felt I was so focussed on what my role was that i wasn’t truly “present” for the Mass.
Cardinal Sarah speaks of the importance of silence and I really try to bring that to my practice of my faith. I guess in this instance it backfires in me.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top