From the Pastor

Ordinary Time, the part of our liturgical year that we are presently enjoying, is a season of growth and understanding. For the next several weeks we will witness the calling of the disciples and the early ministry of Jesus himself. Nestled between Christmas and the joyful season of Lent, we see the first communities of faith grow quickly from a few devoted souls. Their zeal and sacrifice forms the foundation of who we are as Catholic Christians and gives us a model of religious practice that it would be good for us to recall and restore.

The next few weeks of columns will be devoted to laying out, once more, what it means to be a fully active and participating member of our faith community. We will take another look at the elements of our membership in the Church that are too often taken for granted, and therefore can be misinterpreted and misunderstood. Since every disciple of Christ needs to consciously choose to follow him, there will be both helps and hindrances placed in our way to making these choices to belong. Not only are their great privileges to being numbered as Christ's own, there are also responsibilities taken on by all members of his body. We will look at the “requirements” of membership in the Catholic Church, and particularly those that pertain to the reception of the sacraments. Since we celebrated the gift of Baptism last weekend, I think that we might do well to start there, and outline what we look for in properly celebrating the sacrament from the perspective of parents, godparents and faith community. It is hoped that these columns may offer enough insight to be kept for future reference, so that many a question can be answered before an issue arises.

We baptize infants on the strength of the faith of the parents. Parents must be involved in the whole process of having their children baptized. For this reason we expect that parents presenting their children for baptism are already practicing the Catholic faith to the best of their ability. If married, they should be married in the Catholic Church. If not married in the Church, then they should be seeking such grace and be working with a priest to help them in this endeavor. They should be weekly attendees at Sunday Mass, since that is the way that we all are to show our commitment and devotion to our loving God that gives us so much. They should also be fully initiated themselves, if Catholic, by being baptized and confirmed. If not confirmed, the prospect of baptizing their son or daughter can be the occasion to begin the process for themselves. Be it understood that children of parents that may not fit all the above criteria are never to be refused baptism, but they may be delayed for a period of time to ensure that the faith professed in baptism has a chance to be lived more fully in the home and family.

More difficult is oftentimes the choice of godparents. We require that there be at least one godparent for each child baptized. If there are to be two, they must be a man and a woman, thus the “parent” part of godparents. Since they do not automatically come with the child as moms and dads do by definition, we sometimes expect more from godparents than we can from parents. Godparents profess the desire to help the parents of the child in raising that child as a practicing Catholic. They cannot be the parents of the child. The godparent must be practicing his or her Catholic faith on a regular basis by being registered in a Catholic parish, participating weekly in Sunday mass, and in living according to the teachings of the Church. They must be baptized and confirmed, and if married, married by a Catholic priest or with permission of the Catholic Church. Second marriages are generally only recognized if the first marriage was annulled or determined invalid by the Church. Those in a second marriage should seek the guidance of a Catholic priest to determine their eligibility to be godparents, and what can be done to remove any obstacles to their future participation as godparents. Can a person that is not Catholic be a godparent? The answer is simply, no. A non-Catholic can, however, stand as a Christian witness as long as there is a Catholic godparent. Such a Christian witness cannot have been Catholic at one time in their lives and have converted to another Christian denomination, and they must be practicing their faith according to their own church's teachings. When considering asking someone who is not Catholic to be a Christian witness, it would be good to consult the priest or deacon handling the preparations of the baptism. Doing so will alleviate any undue anxiety of having to un-invite someone to take on this most awesome role in the child's life.

All godparents and Christian witnesses must provide a “Sponsor Certificate” prior to the baptism. This certificate basically tells the priest or deacon celebrating the sacrament that the person is indeed practicing his or her faith as fully as possible. Every Catholic church has some form of Sponsor Certificate that they will give to the prospective godparent. Our own forms are available on request.

Next week we will take a brief look at our preparation program for baptism and the parish's responsibility to be a support and encouragement to all families planning to have a child baptized.