God Parent Eligibility

[maskell01]

Hi all.
Im new to all this, so please forgive my nievity.
All searches bring me here.

We are expecting our first child in march.
The OH has rushed out to ask his best friend to be god father, but hes not christened.

From my understanding you have to be christened to be a god parent.

The question being does anyone actually check the "christend status" of the god parents or is it just assumed that all parties are?


Many Thanks

[TheSpottedZebra]

Into what religion?

[marmaladegranny]

With my DGS's christening no-one actually asked for proof but they were asked very publicly in church in front of a full congregation - not the place many would choose to tell an untruth! Any potential godparents who were not christened were offered the opportunity to be christened earlier in the service.

[IrenetheQuaint]

I am godmother of two children without being christened; the churches (C of E for both) just never asked. Obviously I was honest with my friends about my baptismal status and said I would be happy to stand down if required!

[goddessofsmallthings]

The Church of England's only requirement of a godparent is that they be baptised, but you're best advised to check with the vicar of the parish church where you plan to have your dc christened as s/he may be able to exercise some discretion with regard to a godparent's status in Christ.

I don't know whether godparents are required to produce their baptismal certificate or whether the church checks the credentials of prospective godparents, but would you be prepared to lie about such a matter or appoint someone who's prepared to lie about their baptismal status to be godparent to your dc?

If the religious aspect of a christening isn't important to you, you could choose to have a Humanist naming ceremony for your forthcoming dc.

It's to be hoped that one of the many vicars who are also mumsnetters will add their informed opinion to your thread in due course, OP.

[karigan]

My daughter was christened past November. Four godparents were baptised but one friend wasn't. Despite the baptism form (and the CoE website) stating that godparents needed to be baptised as a requirement- the vicar said that they would prefer that we had someone who was meaningful to us and actively involved in our daughter's life rather than passing him over for a friend who was christened but didn't mean as much to us.
So it's definately worth talking to them.

[maskell01]

Yeah thats pretty much what i thought.
Comes down to the individual vicar.
Ill look into the Humanist side of things too!

Thanks for that idea. never thought of that.


Thanks Again all!

[babynumber3eek]

Our son was baptised a year ago - C of E. Nobody even mentioned whether our Godparents had been baptised or not (or whether we had even!)...