do godparents both have to be catholic to baptize a child catholic?

Question

my fiance and i are the godparents of my niece. he is lutheran and i am catholic, although we are not practicing any religion at the moment. my sister wanted to baptize the baby catholic. my question is, is it ok that my fiance is lutheran? can he still help with the baptizm even if he doenst convert? how strict is catolisizm in that area?

Answer 1

Yes but a Non-Catholic may be an official witness.

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.

Answer 2

No. Cannon Law (which is the law of the Catholic Church) says that a godparents MUST meet the following criteria:

1° be appointed by the candidate for baptism, or by the parents or whoever stands in their place, or failing these, by the parish priest or the minister; to be appointed the person must be suitable for this role and have the intention of fulfilling it;

2° be not less than sixteen years of age, unless a different age has been stipulated by the diocesan Bishop, or unless the parish priest or the minister considers that there is a just reason for an exception to be made;

3° be a catholic who has been confirmed and has received the blessed Eucharist, and who lives a life of faith which befits the role to be undertaken;

As your fiance has neither been confirmed or received the blessed Eucharist (as sacraments of the Catholic Church, Lutheran versions do not count) he can not be a Catholic godparent.

Churches are extremely strict because baptisms are not valid if performed without two confirmed godparents -- and the priest could be excommunicated for violating church law.

Answer 3

You as a Catholic can be a godparent. Your fiance will be considered a witness.

The big problem that I see is not the fact that your fiance is not a Catholic, but that you are a non-practicing Catholic.

The role of a godparent is to assist the parents in bringing up the child in the catholic faith. Are you ready to do this? This would mean becoming a practicing Catholic again.

Answer 4

It would have been a problem 50 years ago. Catholicism is not usually that strict any more. It would be good to let the parents know, however: "We would be verry happy to be the godparents: does it matter that one of us is Lutheran?".

Answer 5

What makes this practice especially disturbing is that the Bible does not record a single occurance of an infant being baptized. On the contrary, every mention of baptism involves people old enough to hear and receive the gospel.

Jesus was an adult when he was baptized:

"... Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water..." Matthew 3:16

Throughout the Bible, baptism always followed salvation. The Ethiopian eunuch who was led to salvation by Philip was an adult when baptized:

"... they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him." Acts 8:38

Others were baptized after they believed:

"And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized." Acts 18:8

After people heeded John the Baptist's message to "repent," they were:

"... baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins." Matthew 3:6

Obviously, newborn infants can not repent, believe or confess their sins. Therefore, they are never qualified to be scripturally baptized.

Jesus said little children are better models of purity and conduct than adults.

"And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:2-3

Original Sin is a False doctrine

"The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself." Ezekiel 18:20

Answer 6

Only practicing Catholics can be godparents. There can be one Catholic godparent and one baptized but non-Catholic witness.

Answer 7

It is the responsibility of both god parents to see that their god child is raised and educated in accordance with Catholic beliefs and practices. A non-Catholic god parent will most likely not possess sufficient knowledge of Church Doctrine in order to do his/her job.

Also, in the interest of your god child, it is best that Catholic god parents are active in their Church life. How can a Catholic, who is not actively pursuing a life in the Faith, effectively see to it that there god child is raised in the same faith?

Being god parents is serious calling. You will be mroe than a mere witness to the Baptism, you are to make sure your god child is raised a catholic, especially if no one else sees to it. It's a noble calling but one that is also meant to be taken seriously.

Answer 8

Only one god parent is required to be Catholic, the other if not Catholic is called a Christian witness.

Answer 9

like somebody said, he can't be the actual Godparent but he can be a witness
Basically it has to do with not having had Communion.

Answer 10

Only one godparent has to be Catholic.


VLR