Are you catholic? Would you be aware of this.......?

[TheFairlyGoodChristianSoldier]

I want to get my twins christened and i'm struggling to think of Godparents. I'm church of England, my best friends are Jewish and catholic. Now, I know that a catholic can be a godparent, but is a catholic brought up to think that they should only be godparent to another catholic child??

It is all about bringing a child up as a christian, not as a catholic. That's what a 'christening' is.

If you are Catholic yourself, please tell me how you would react if a church of England friend asked you to be Godparent to their child.

I've seen catholics use the term non-catholic (on this board when they mean 'non-christian', so I don't want to ask if it will be met with awkwardness.

ykwim??

I would be honoured but I am not a very erm "by the book" catholic!

My godmotehr is Church of England and I'm a catholic

Speaking personally, as a Catholic, I would be honoured to be asked to be a Godparent no matter what their faith.

I think you're right when you said that it is about providing a child with a Christian 'role model', if you like. For me it is more about my DD having people who would be a good influence on her, and who she could learn from/admire/aspire to be like. We have family members as Godparents for her, so they do happen to be Catholic, but it certainly wouldn't have been a pre-requisite.

I'm not sure how other Catholics feel, and I am certainly on the 'liberal' side of the faith, but I would suggest you ask them and see what they think.

I would be godmother if asked to a non catholic child.

So would I.

I am godmother to a couple of non-catholic children. I was delighted to be asked. I'm also godmother to a child who hasn't actually been baptised -- not quite sure how that works in practice, but I took it in the spirit in which it was intended.

It would depend more on how the parents see the godparent/child relationship. I'm a staunch practising Catholic and, to me, being a godparent means that you stand in loco parentis to the child should the need arise. Therefore, I think it is important that the parents and godparents share the same values. To that end, our son's godparents are Catholics of a similar stamp to my husband and me and his godfather is also the person nominated to be his gaurdian should the worst occur.

I've never been in the position of being asked to stand up for a non-Catholic child (which, by the way, I would not use to mean non-Christian but merely to describe anyone who's not a Catholic, whether they're Methodist, Anglican, Jew, aetheist whatever) but if I was asked I would want the parents to be clear about what they expect from me. If they want me to be able to offer the child advice/support then they would have to be aware that some advice/support I might offer in a situation might be different to what they expect (regarding sex outside of marriage or contraception for example). If the parents regarded the godparent's role as more of a ceremonial one-off, then I would be more inclined to do it - I would have no wish to offend the parents by offering advice/interfering etc.

Regardless of what I decided to do, I would be very flattered indeed to be asked.

I had a similar dilemma. Probably my best friends are all catholic , but none of them has ever asked me to be their children's godparent.

It's hard though. Because you have to ask people you're friends with, who you'll still be friends with in 20 yrs hopefully!

I would just make sure that your catholic friend understands that CofE is an equally christian religion which is actually incredibly similar to roman catholic, and that they are not doing something 'sacreligious' or whatever!!! It is all written out quite plainly on the back of the christening card that all godparents get.

Jcscot, for the record, no christian religion actually commends divorce, sex outside of marriage, abortion etc..... it is considered wrong, but ultimately it's for your conscience to bear.

So there would be NO conflict if you were asked to be the Godparent of a CofE child.

Unless you were going to be advising either a married Godchild! or a sexually active teenager NOT to use contraception. I would always advise a young teenager to wait. But yeah, I guess we would have to part direction if it came to advising a 17 yr old NOT to use contraception.

I don't like the term non-catholic much. As a member of the CofE, I'm an Anglican Catholic, and therefore not a 'non' catholic.

I am a practising Catholic and would be honoured to be asked!

I sincerely hope that if people use the expression "non-Cathlics" they mean people who aren't Christian - if they do then they are wrong.

(anyone being described as a "non anything" in my book is pretty demeaning)

I'm sure your Catholic friend will bedelighted to be asked but I wouldn't hold out for the Jewish one....

I would be very honoured.

Each of my children has one Catholic and one Anglican godparent.

DH is Anglican.

Jcscot, for the record, no christian religion actually commends divorce, sex outside of marriage, abortion etc..... it is considered wrong, but ultimately it's for your conscience to bear.

I know - I wasn't meaning that what I might advise would be wrong in terms of the religion, more that parents might hold differnet views to mine. Everyone seems to have such a variety of beliefs these days - from staunchly old-fashioned Christians to people who are very liberal in their outlook.

"So there would be NO conflict if you were asked to be the Godparent of a CofE child. "

In those broad terms, you're absolutely right - there would be little conflict with the broad beliefs of Christianity. However, I am not in communion with the Anglican Church and, therefore, do not agree with their stance on several issues - thus there is a conflict over the detail.

I don't think a Catholic can only be godparent to a Catholic child. My BIL and SIL are very devout and observant Catholics and they had no problem accepting our invitation to be GPs for our Anglican children.

I'm an ex-RC who's now Anglican, my children were baptised as Christian in an Anglican church. I asked a RC friend if she'd be godmother, and she was. There is no problem with RCs being godparents.

Forgot to add you should have 1 GP who is confirmed and Anglican though...

I have Catholic godparents for both of my children (CofE)

You might not get very far with the Jewish one though

Have actually been researching this as I'm catholic & my partner is CofE (both practicing).

Basically, the Anglican church recognises the Catholic church - so catholics can take communion in Anglican churches, etc. Essentially they are treated no differently and there would be no barrier to a catholic being a godparent at an Anglican christening (other than personal belief - most people wouldn't have a problem though these days).
Note that the Anglican church requires 3 godparents who must be christened themselves (but not necessarily Anglican) & confirmed - although most vicars will waive the confirmation requirement.

In the Catholic church, only 1 (catholic) god-parent is required. More are allowed if you wish.
Non-catholics can be godparents as well (must have 1 catholic though) but in church terminology they are "witnesses" - basically no difference.
Note that the catholic church does not currently recognise the Anglican church, so "non-catholics" cannot take communion, etc. (having said that, I do know of one church that breaks that rule... priests do exercise some discretion).
All godparents must also be christened themselves - same as for the Anglican church (the catholic godparent needs to be confirmed too).
Oh - and 1 parent must be catholic for a child to be (but both don't have to be - my dad's not catholic).

Hope that's helpful ;-)

Blinkin 'eck Anne76, "The Catholic Church does not currently recognise the Anglican Church", are you trying to start a war love!!!

In my understanding the Anglicans would not want to recieve communion in a Catholic Church as they do not believe in the true presence of Christ (as brought about by transubstantiation) in the Eucharist. They do however believe in a symbolic presence.

My father, and all his side of our family are Anglicans, I can assure you that the other half of the family (RC) very much recognise their very valid and very similair faith!!

FWIW our (RC) children have Godparents of both the RC and CofE traditions and the CofE GP is a vicar!!

I would be delighted to be asked to be anyones godparent.

Actually I know a lot of Anglicans who would want to receive communion in a Catholic church.... some of whom believe in transubstantiation.

My ds1 has five godparents - two are CofE, one is Lutheran, one is RC and one is Old Catholic. ds2 will have five different godparents but exactly the same distribution of denominations. No problems at all.

(oh they are/will be baptised CofE btw)

Two of my godparents are catholic and I am anglican.

...And we all have faith in the same God

That's very interesting Anne76. I don't think most catholics believe in transubstantiation. I wouldn't take communion in a catholic church but ONLY because if I was there it would be WITH somebody and they might feel I was doing something wrong.

All christians are invited to take communion at a cofE church.

There are some things like Communion and christenings which should be common to both bodies! It's ridiculous that they arent' in fact.

All christians should be moving towards a UNITED church again. That's what I'd like to see. The differences are actually so small, and quite petty to a real christian I think.

Isn't it frowned upon for Catholics to take communion at an Anglican Church? I know the Irish President Mary McAleese caused a huge controversy because as a Catholic, she took communion in a CoI Church. Was slated by Irish Bishops.

Non Catholics cannot receive communion in a Catholic Church.