Have you been asked to be a Godparent or Confirmation Sponsor?
A Godparent or Sponsor for Confirmation serves a special role. Godparents and Sponsors are to represent the Christian Catholic community, the Church. When it comes to infant Baptism, Godparents are to assist the child’s parents in raising their child in our Catholic faith, so that the child may profess and live it as an adult.
An active, practicing Catholic who meets the following requirements is eligible to act as a Godparent at Baptism or a Sponsor at Confirmation:
1. Be at least 16 years old.
2. Have received the Sacraments of Initiation in the Catholic Church: Baptism, Confirmation, & Holy Communion.
3. Present a Godparent or Sponsor Certificate of Eligibility to Holy Redeemer.
4. Attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.
5. If married, sacramentally married in the Catholic Church.
6. If single, live a Christian life in accordance with the laws of God and the Catholic Church.
7. Those Catholics who are not married but are living with a partner cannot serve as Godparents or Sponsors.
8. For religious or clergy, be in good standing with their religious community or diocese to which they belong.
9. Commit to help their godchild with prayers and give a good Christian example to help him/her grow in the Catholic faith.
A Catholic godfather and/or a Catholic godmother are allowed. Two males only or two females only are not allowed.
Non-Catholic Christians may not serve as godparents, however they are welcome at the Baptism and may serve as a “Christian Witness”.