Christening

cmcarey

Hi,
Can anyone tell me if I can have my daughter christened without god-parents? There are major issues between my partners family and my family and I was hoping to have her christened with just the two of us present.

larryone

Godparents dont need to be family members. My godmother isnt.
Not sure about the lack of godparents thing, but I have a cousin who has 4 godparents.

Asiaprod

cmcarey wrote:

Hi,
Can anyone tell me if I can have my daughter christened without god-parents? There are major issues between my partners family and my family and I was hoping to have her christened with just the two of us present.

You get to select who the god parents are, they do not have to be family.
The function of God-parents are to take your place in raising your daughter in the sad event that you and your wife were to die. They agree to take you and your wifes place so you should choose wisely. You are selecting them for your daughter, not for yourself. If you are a christian, it is the correct and responsible thing to do

robindch

> The function of God-parents are to take your place in raising your
> daughter in the sad event that you and your wife were to die.

Are you sure about this? I was at a catholic christening last year, but the limits of the duties of the godparents (friends of the parents, not relations) seemed to be not much more than to ensure that the kid would be "instructed" in the appropriate religious "teachings". I don't recall hearing anything about agreeing to take on the roles of the parents, in the event of the death of both, though I may well have nodded off and missed it.

BTW, is there a religious-neutral replacement term for "god-parent"? I'm in something of a pickle, occupying the position for one of my sister's kids, but singularly lacking any intention to indoctrinate her into the sweaty clutches of the Mother Church. "Dog-father" or "nature-father" don't really cut it.

Asiaprod

robindch wrote:

> The function of God-parents are to take your place in raising your
> daughter in the sad event that you and your wife were to die.

Are you sure about this? I was at a catholic christening last year, but the limits of the duties of the godparents (friends of the parents, not relations) seemed to be not much more than to ensure that the kid would be "instructed" in the appropriate religious "teachings".

You may indeed be right and I may have been to literal in my interpretation of their role. Its been a long time since I was at a christening.:(

BTW, is there a religious-neutral replacement term for "god-parent"? I'm in something of a pickle, occupying the position for one of my sister's kids, but singularly lacking any intention to indoctrinate her into the sweaty clutches of the Mother Church. "Dog-father" or "nature-father" don't really cut it.

That is indeed a pickle. I think the overriding factor is that you would in respect to the trust placed in you take care to raise the child as best you could in the way that you thought was the best for the kid. Maybe we could coin the phrase Guardian-Parent, knowing you would do what you felt was right. At the age of reasoning the child could then make its own decision.

hairyheretic

robindch wrote:

Are you sure about this? I was at a catholic christening last year, but the limits of the duties of the godparents (friends of the parents, not relations) seemed to be not much more than to ensure that the kid would be "instructed" in the appropriate religious "teachings". I don't recall hearing anything about agreeing to take on the roles of the parents, in the event of the death of both, though I may well have nodded off and missed it.

No, that sounds about right. I was at my neices christening about 18 months ago, and from what I remember the duties the god-parents were accepting was basically to ensure the kid was raised as a good little catholic.