Catholic Christening when 1 parent hasn't been baptised & God Parents query

[NEDSMUM]

Just wondering with Catholic Christenings, my partner wants to get our son christened catholic as he is (he doesn't practice though-doesn't even go to church! :D ). I'm just going along with it for him, but I've never been christened. We aren't even married and have had a child out of wedlock! Funny huh? :rolleyes: Personally, I don't think it's that important and it really means nothing to me. As long as you believe in God, that should be enough! Will the catholic church christen our son and do the godparents have to be catholic??? I want my best friend to be godmother, however she isn't catholic, she's anglican.

[hummingbird]

Both my DH and I are non-practicing Catholics and we are planning to Christen our baby. More out of tradition than anything else. And I like the idea of my kids gong to Catholic schools as both me and DH did and I liked it and you will need your kids Christened to get them in.

I think you will have no problem getting your bub Christened even if you are not Catholic, though there may be a problem with not having a Catholic godparent. One of the godparent's role is to teach and guide the child about being a Catholic throughout thier life so not sure how this would work if your friend is not Catholic. They are Christian though and at the end of the day we are all one big happy family so you might find a priest that doesn't mind.

Some preists can be pretty stuffy though, so look for a 'cool' one.

[Maxs_MumMy]

Hi,

I'm getting Max baptised in December, i am catholic but hubby isnt, though we do have 8 catholic godparents make up for it..Though as siobhan said yes you do need to have at least 1 Catholic God Parent to guide the child though the faith.

Some Catholic churches i found wouldnt even baptise Max as we arnt regular church goers, there funny that way. So you'll really have to ring round, also there are certain dates within the catholic calender that baptisms cant be done for reglious reasoning, i wanted the 13th Nov but couldnt cause of this and mine is moved to dec now..so watch that also.

Hope you have a lovely day!

[veve]

My SIL had terrible trouble getting her sons Baptised...

they dont attend church regularly.. and aren't married - they had to 'shop around' at alot of churches before finding a uniting church that would complete the ceremony. It wasn't easy (my SIL got thoroughally frustrated!!) - and the church they eventually went through insisted on 'interviewing' both parents before the ceremony date - to check that they were getting it done for the right reasons!!!

It might be even harder with the catholic option - I think that catholics are a little stricter when it comes to ceremonies etc...

but good luck!!!!!

xxx

[cobysmummy]

we got Coby christened in June this year, i am a catholic but my partner isnt and we are young and arent married. we had no problems getting him christened. As for the godparents at least one of them had to be a catholic. This may change from church to church.. im not sure...

[Merlion]

I'm a very haphazard catholic (i only go once in awhile) and my hubbie isnt (he will come with me if i do go). We had no problems getting DD baptised but our priest wanted at least one catholic godparent. They don't have to be practising.

[Baby Girl]

My partner is catholic, his family are very strict, he only goes to church at easter and christmas. We are on the prayer list everyday as we have 2 kids and are not married. My family is anglican and I am, lets say, not a firm believer. Our girls will be raised catholic (at least until they are old enough to make their own decision about religion) as it keeps the peace with DP's family. His family are unaware of my views and only know that my family is anglican so assume I am too!

DD1 is christened catholic and DD2 will be after christmas. DD1 was done at the church his family have always gone to by the same priest that did the ceremonies for him and all his brothers and sisters. DD1 has a godmother that is a baptist, a godfather who is muslim and a catholic sponsor for things like her christening, holy communion etc. So in essence I guess she has 2 godfathers. DD2 will have a catholic godmother and an anglican godfather. As long as one godparent is catholic the church are okay with that and you can appoint as many godparents as you like.

P.S. We had to sit down with the preist and be interviewed about why we wanted her christened catholic and why we chose the godparents and basically to make sure we understood the catholic expectations of raising our children.

[Mamaduke]

My DH is not Catholic but I am and we never had any problems with getting the boys baptised. I did choose godparents who were Catholic but this wasn't intentional so I don't know if you would run into trouble with that.
I think if you find a parish with an easy going parish priest you will find that it won't be a huge test - it will be a celebration!
I remember how nervous my DH was at meeting the priest who was going to marry us - the first thing out of his mouth was "I'm not Catholic!" to which Father replied, "that's okay, we'll take anyone!"
It is such a beautiful celebration - welcoming such a new and special life into God's family in front of family and friends (& God) - what could be bad about that?

he doesn't practice though-doesn't even go to church!
That's okay, he still knows who his family is and his need to have his son baptised is out of love - maybe it's not so much for him as it is for your son!
Carly

[aardvark]

DH is not catholic, and I'm catholic with the smallest "c" possible - non-practising and cynical!

We were married by a catholic priest after my mother chucked a wobbly about me asking the school chaplain at my old (non-catholic) secondary school to marry us instead.

Our girls are baptised catholic, and the eldest has been confirmed. The youngest will go to religion classes next year.

Our experience has been that they don't care if the parents are catholic or not, it is the commitment to raising the children as catholic which they are concerned about.

They preferred both godparents to be catholic, but one being catholic and one being any other form of Christian was OK.

One entirely mercenary way to look at having your child baptised catholic, and having them do the sacraments as they get older, is that it does give you the option of catholic schooling, especially at secondary level.

[Mamaduke]

Gee,
It's nice to see so many excited Catholics (big c or little c)...
It's nice to know you'll be Catholic when it comes time for your children to be educated!
I wonder if your children will be confused with some of your attitudes to the Catholic church, considering it was your decision to have them Baptised a Catholic in the first place.
The way some of you look upon the church and schooling - it's just like going to see a relative you really hate just because you get a good meal - you're supposed to get more out of a religion than a good education!
God bless,
Carly

[MariaO]

Hi,

I was christened a Catholic and would now consider myself Catholic with a very small c indeed. My husband is not an RC but we are getting our daughter christened when we go back to Dublin at the end of the year for a holiday. There was no problem about this. We decided to have Aoife christened for possibly pragmatic future reasons (schools etc.) and because I knew my folks would love it.