What are my chances of my parish letting our daughter have 2 godmothers? (one of each our sisters)
I haven't called to ask yet, mostly because I'm lazy. I'm thinking the more liberal church I grew up in might be more OK with it, so if my current church nixes it, I may call over there.
Re: Catholic people, come on in....
To be a sponsor, a person must be chosen by the person to be baptized, or by the parents or guardians of a child, or, in their absence, by the pastor or minister of the sacrament. The sponsor must not only have the intention of being a sponsor but also meet proper qualifications. The sponsor must have completed his sixteenth year unless the Bishop has established another age for sponsorship, or the pastor or minister judges that a just cause warrants an exception to the rule. He must be a Catholic who has received the sacraments of holy Eucharist and confirmation, and "leads a life in harmony with the faith and the role to be undertaken." Moreover, the sponsor cannot be impeded by some canonical penalty. Ideally, this sponsor at baptism should also be the sponsor for confirmation. Note that the mother and father of the child cannot serve as sponsors. Also note that these are the same requirements for confirmation sponsors. (Cf. Code of Canon Law, No. 874.1).
Nora - 10.26.12
Henry - 5.9.14
There are Catholic churches where I live who require both godparents to be baptized Catholic and require two (but they don't have to be married). Other churches are really loose on the rules. I have a friend who is an athiest who is the god father to a Catholic baby. So... it just depends.
Without reading through all of the responses, here has been my experience...
The Catholic Church will allow you some amount of latitude with a heavy enough donation. We have two Catholic Churches in our area. One said that both god parents had to have confirmation. One said we could have two females. For both, the people need to attend church on a regular basis. When DH and I took the class, our educator signed off not only that we took the class but that our sponsors all took the class (which they hadn't). At one church the class is free (which is where we took it) and the other church you have to pay for the class. The church that we ended up booking the baptism at was booked for the day we wanted (trying to coordinate my sister flying into town who will be a god mother). Not surprisingly though, for a large enough "donation" they could make the church available for us on that date.
I would call the church(es) in your area and find out what their requirements are - every church seems to be different.
Ironically, you don't need to be married in the Catholic Church to have your child baptized (DH and I were not married in a church) but one church said that if you have a husband/wife couple be the god parents they must have been married in the church - so DH and I could not be god parents to someone else's child
PS - I thought booking a church for a baptism in June back in February would be plenty of time but apparently it wasn't hence the extra "donation".
I asked about the same sex question, and was told that there *technically* only has to be one sponsor, and should we choose another sponsor that's the same sex, that he/she wouldn't be recognized as a godparent by the church.
When are you guys thinking about having baby baptized? I started checking with family on when they're "available" and I have a whopping 5 Sundays between my due date and October that people are all available at the same time. *eye roll*
I had a hard time finding someone to be the actual Catholic God parent b/c most of my friends are not Catholic. Now I'm trying to figure out what to do for #2. Do most siblings have the same set of Godparents?
ETA: we could not have 2 of the sex listed on the form. (even if one was just the Christian Sponsor)