Godparents and christening

[Librarylu]

My best friend lives in Australia and cannot attend our sons christening. I desperately want her to be a godmother. Is there anyway this can happen without her attending the day?

Yes of course! As I understand it, there is no requirement for Godparents to be present at the Christening - at least that is certainly the case in out CofE church.

Ok. That's good news! So what do I have to do? Just ask her and that's it?

Yes! But then presumably you will approach your / the vicar about the christening and he will note down names and details of godparents. Then you'll have the christening and as many of the godparents will be there as can be there!

Probably best to have a word with the vicar - but am sure totally fine to go ahead and ask your friend and acknowledge with her that she won't be able to make the christening.

Going back a long time but my parents did this for my brother. His Godfather was very ill and in hospital so they did it by proxy. Speak to the vicar

As stated earlier, speak to the priest who is carrying out the baptism. Its usual to ask someone to stand as proxy for the absent godparent. I write or email the godparent beforehand and make sure a card naming them as godparent is sent after the service. I usually have this written out beforehand and ask the proxy to put it in the post box!

I went to a Christening recently where 2 of the 3 Godparents weren't there because their new baby had arrived during the night / in the early hours before the Christening .
Just talk to the vicar / ordained person about it.
However - how can a person who lives thousands of miles away ensure the child is brought up in the faith, etc. ? Or are you only on other sides of the world temporarily ?

Get somebody at the ceremony to have an iPad/similar there and skype him in so he can watch the proceedings and answer the questions.

He could be there virtually rather than by proxy