Can a non-catholic be a godparent to a catholic child? I am not catholic but my husband is, and we agreed to raise our children catholic. I am wanting to know as far as godparents go can we have a noncatholic godparent as long as the other one is catholic??
2006-06-20 13:02:53 · 21 answers · asked by brittanybubbles 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
No. The purpose of a godparent is to teach Catholicism to the child. Therefore, if you're a non-catholic, you cannot teach the child what you're not practicing.
2006-06-20 13:05:35 · answer #1 · answered by maryc 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Actually only one Godparent is necessary. You can have one godfather, one godmother, or one of each.
The role of the godfather and/or godmother is very important. They must be firm Catholic believers, able and ready to help the newly baptized—child or adult—on the road of Christian life.
To ensure this, a godparent must be at least 16 years old (for maturity's sake), fully initiated (having received Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist), be someone other than the legal parents, and one who leads a life in harmony with the Church.
If you have only one Catholic godparent, then you may have a non-Catholic participate as an official witness. The witness will be responsible for setting a good example for the baptized person while the Catholic godparent will share the specifics of the Catholic faith.
With love in Christ.
2006-06-20 23:25:15 · answer #2 · answered by imacatholic2 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would think so, yes, as long as one godparent is Catholic. The whole point to godparenting was that in case something happened to the parents and they could or would not take the child/children to church, the godparent promised to see to the childs spiritual education...so I would guess it's ok!
2006-06-20 20:21:15 · answer #3 · answered by themom 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You'd have to ask your priest. Generally, since the duty of godparents is to help raise the children in the Catholic Way of Christ, they'd have to be Catholic. But I suppose there are room for exceptions.
2006-06-21 16:19:21 · answer #4 · answered by Veritatum17 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nope. You have to have had the Catholic sacraments to be one. A god-parent is supposed to see to a childs religious training. You need to be trained, first. Your spouse can still do it, but they will need to choose someone else besides you in order for the church to recognize the god parent. Sorry. Where did all of the rest of you get the idea that a Catholic Priest would go along with all that other religion stuff? And it isn't just for the love of the child. The church says that a god parent is for religious training in the event that the parents are unable or unwiling.
2006-06-20 20:12:04 · answer #5 · answered by Waferette 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you agree to raise your children Catholic, it would be in their interest if you were to find Catholic godparents. The godparent does not only stand witness to the baptism of their god child, they become their god child's Spiritual mentors in life.
For the sake of the Spiritual well-being of your child being baptized, it might be better to have only one 'god parent' and the other a 'baptismal witness'.
2006-06-24 08:58:09 · answer #6 · answered by Daver 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. As long as the God-parent agrees to raise the child Catholic.
2006-06-20 20:07:56 · answer #7 · answered by goldielocks123 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's fine as long as the godparent respects the religion the parents want to raise the children in.
2006-06-20 20:06:37 · answer #8 · answered by tkron31 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
My brother is single, and was/is a godparent to a Catholic child. He is not Catholic.
2006-06-20 20:06:43 · answer #9 · answered by sideshot72 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
If the child wants to be catholic then why should it matter? A child can be raised catholic by an entire family of catholics,but once he grows up decides he wants to become Jewish.
2006-06-20 20:07:03 · answer #10 · answered by Simmy 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋