Forum | PolishOrigins :: View topic

Author

Message

Glynnpaige

Joined: 03 Oct 2023
Replies: 1

Back to top

Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2023 2:00 pm Post subject: Children christening

Hi, not how or this will work!?

I need a question answered with regard to my daughter and son's christening. I’m English and my wife is Polish. We got married in Poland and agreed with our priest, that we would have our children christened in Poland. the problem we have is we only have sisters no brothers. Is it possible to have only godmothers or are you required by the church/Polish law to have a godfather and a godmother, or can you just have two godmothers??

We spoke to our local church here in the UK and they can’t see a problem with having 2 godmothers, but I know Poland isn’t the UK and things like this are not common.

Please if anyone could help?

BarbOslo
PO Top Contributor

Joined: 19 Nov 2022
Replies: 464
Location: Norway
Back to top

Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2023 3:15 pm Post subject: Re: Children christening

Glynnpaige wrote:

Hi,
It is best to contact the church/parish where you wanted to baptize your children.
Since your wife is Polish, she can read this.
https://parafiacudzynowice.pl/9238-2/
Regards,
-Barb

dnowicki
PO Top Contributor

Joined: 28 Dec 2011
Replies: 2734
Location: Michigan City, Indiana
Back to top

Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2023 9:27 pm Post subject: Re: Children christening

BarbOslo wrote:

Glynnpaige wrote:

Hi,
It is best to contact the church/parish where you wanted to baptize your children.
Since your wife is Polish, she can read this.

https://parafiacudzynowice.pl/9238-2/
Regards,
-Barb

Hi Glynnpaige & Barb,

The universal norm for baptismal sponsors is that only one sponsor aka godparent is required for baptism. The custom of having two sponsors aka godparents is exactly that—a custom. There are many records where others besides the male and the female sponsor aka the godfather and the godmother were entered into the record but they are named as “adstantes” or “assistents”. In other words, they were present at the ceremony and had a special relationship with the child and the parents but that relationship was not “official”. Catholic Canon Law is something which is universal and not limited by geography. No Catholic priest anywhere in the world can require that a child have more than one sponsor commonly known as a godparent. The requirement of having a sponsor dates back to the earliest days of Christianity when infant baptism was not the norm. After all, the earliest Christian converts were adults. The sponsor was just that, a sponsor, who acted as a mentor for the new convert. If you want o join the club you need someone to sponsor you. In Church Sacramental Law there are only sponsors not godparents. St. Augustine of Hippo, the author of The City of God (De Civitate Dei) and of the Confessions (Confessiones), was born of a Christian mother, St. Monica, and a pagan father. He did not opt for baptism until he was an adult, who had fathered a son, Adeodatus, but never married the boy’s mother. The requirements which Barb quoted are what the Catholic Church in Poland requires of a person who wants to be a sponsor/godparent for a child but that only specifies how “practicing” a Catholic the sponsor(s) should be but does not replace the universal law regarding the number of sponsors/godparents.. Since church law only recognizes sponsors there should be no problem having two female sponsors. My recommendation would be to avoid difficulties by telling the priest you would like two females to act as sponsors and avoid calling them “godmothers”

Wishing you and your child the best,

Dave

PolishOrigins Forum