THE ROLE OF GODPARENTS IN FAITH FORMATION: CATHOLIC
PERSPECTIVE.
Introduction
Charity, they say, begins at home
and
“faith grows when it is lived as an experience of love received and when it is
communicated as an experience of grace and joy”(Porta Fidei.no.7). In this regard, the Catholic Church proposes
that godparents or sponsors be given to new converts to accompany them affectionately
on the journey of faith so as to help them grow in the faith in their daily
life. Sadly, some pastoral problems and crises of faith that the Church
experiences in our day can be mapped out to the fact that this provision of the
Church has either failed or lost its binding force among the faithful. Or it
has been underrated somewhere along the line.
Though space will not allow me to
speak to the matter into detail, I deem it fit to write this piece to rejuvenate the pristine
strength of mind with which early Christians approached this agency of godparent in the faithful of today and
lead them rediscover the importance the Church accords it.
Who is a godparent?
According
to Jovian P. Lang, in Dictionary of the
Liturgy, godparent and sponsor are ordinarily used interchangeably to refer
to those who present the candidate, both for baptism and confirmation, with the
intention to make sure that the person will be faithful to the meaning of the
sacrament. However, some people
distinguish between them. In this case, while the godparents are chosen to guide
the elect during their Initiation Rite, sponsors are chosen to accompany
candidates who seek admission to the catechumenate and remain with them to
supervise their progress during this process until the Rite of Election, when they may also be chosen
as godparents (Jovian P. Lang, Dictionary
of the Liturgy1989).
Chambers
English Dictionary defines “Godparent”
as “a person who, at a baptism, guarantees a child’s religious education or who
(loosely) undertakes to bring up the child in the event of the death its
parents”. This sounds the bell that the role of a godparent doesn't end with
the ceremony. Rather, he or she becomes, in duty bound, the supportive pillar
for the child and must show keenness and interest in the upbringing of the
child. Customarily, the godparent is someone outside the immediate family who
follows the same faith.
Godparenting in the New Testament and Its Implication for Christians.
God-parenting is an age-old
tradition that can be traced back to the age of the apostles. This is very loud
in the letters of St. Paul. Paul led many people to Christ and
helped them mature spiritually. In this regard, Steve Jonathan sees a godparent as
essentially “a spiritual guide” to the child or the baptized or the
confirmandi. As a spiritual father, with a deep concern for his
spiritual children, Paul wrote he felt he was ‘going through labour pains for Galatians
and this he said would continue until Christ has been fully developed in their
lives.’ (cf. Gal.4:19). To the Ephesians wrote: “This will continue until we
all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be
mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.”
(Eph.4:13). Here we
see the goal of god-parenting plainly stated.
Christ
has given his church an enormous responsibility ‘to make disciples in every
nation’ (cf.Mat.28:18-20). This entails preaching, teaching, healing,
nurturing, giving, administering, building, and many other tasks. It will be
impossible for individuals to fulfill this mandate alone. Luckily, Christ calls
us (the Church) together as members of his body. As members of the body of Christ we can achieve
more together than we would dream possible working by ourselves individually.
Working together, the church can express the fullness of Christ. This
“fullness” is expressed only in Christ (Col. 2:9, 10) yet in union with Him,
who is the head over every ruler and authority (Col.2: 9; Jn1:14, 16), and
through his empowering spirit, we are made whole. Consequently, every Christian
and in a special way “Godparents” are
able to tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all
the wisdom God has given them so as to present humanity to God, perfect in
their relationship to Christ (cf.Col.1:28); that is, to present each believer,
though not “flawless”, spiritually
mature.
History and Place of Godparenting in the Catholic Church
The
role of the godparent for baptism is rooted in the role of the sponsor in the
catechumenate, which originated in the early Church. This was a safety measure
the Church adopted to get around pagan infiltration and persecution. This was
necessitated by the fact that until the year 313, the Church was under the
persecution of the Roman Empire and had to be precautious in carrying out its relationships.
Besides, until the Middle Ages, the Sacraments of Initiation — baptism, holy
Eucharist, and confirmation — were administered at once and a sponsor was needed
to attest to the integrity of the person, often times an adult, seeking
admission into the Church. The sponsor assists him/her during the catechumenate
in preparing for these sacraments and in living a Christian life. For infants,
these sponsors would also make the Profession of Faith in the child's name and
accept the responsibility of instructing the child in the faith, especially if
the parents failed in this duty. However, there is no legal commitment here and
the godparent is not the legal guardian of the child. This is in keeping with
the Code of Canon Law, which recommends that the one to be baptized should be
offered a sponsor to assist him or her in the Christian initiation, in the case
of an adult, and together with the parents, to present an infant at baptism.
This sponsor will help the baptized to lead a Christian life in harmony with
baptism, and to fulfill faithfully the obligations connected with it (cf. no.
872).
Recommendations and Conclusion
As
we have seen, ‘Godparenting’ is a
great responsibility and godparents serve a special role in the life of the
baptized person. As a result, the godparent must ensure that the child is well
versed in the fundamentals and practices of his religion and must be keen in
the other aspects of the child's life as well. Those will include birthdays,
holidays, graduation and any other special event in the life of the child.
Godparent and the child might live in different houses or might have great
physical distances between them, but the godparent should ensure that he
allocates some time for the godchild and visits him often.
Therefore,
each parent should choose a godparent not just because of a blood relationship
or friendship; rather, a person who is a trustworthy witness of the faith who
will help the godchild attain salvation. Technically, only Catholics can be
godparents or sponsors. A Christian of another denomination, whether Orthodox
or Protestant, however, may be a "Christian witness" to the baptism
along with the Catholic godparent since the godparent takes responsibility for
the religious education and spiritual formation of the baptized person and at
the same time represents the Church, the community of faith, into which the
person is baptized (Cf. Vatican II, Decree on Ecumenism, No. 57; canon,
No.874). That is why it is expedient that Godparents should be faithful
individuals who are ready to accept the responsibility of being a part of a
godchild's life for the rest of his life.
I
humbly wish to submit that pastors of souls and their associates as well as
their collaborators pay special attention to the role of godparents in the faith
formation of new converts and put necessary measures in place to prepare the
godparents for the task. This I pounce will lend a hand to the godparents to be
able to instill the faith of Mother Church in ‘the today’ of the converts.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Saunders,
Rev. William. "The Role of Godparents" Arlington Catholic Herald.
Benedict
XVI, Apostolic
Letter Porta Fidei For The Induction Of The Year Of
Faith, Given In Rome, At Saint Peter’s, On 11 October In The Year 2011.
Wroblewski, Fr. Sergius, Summary on
Porta Fidei paragraphs as numbered in original document online.
Lang, Rev. Jovian P., Dictionary of
the Liturgy, Catholic Book Publishing Co., New York, 1989.
Flannery, Austin, Vatican II: The
Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, St. Pauls, Bandra, Mumbai, 2001.
Life Application Study Bible New
Living Translations (2nd Edit.), Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Carol Stream, Illinois, 2007.
