OPEN FORUM AND A LITTLE OFF THE SUBJECT QUESTION

HEY GIRLS! I NEED YOUR INPUT. I WAS ASKED LAST NIGHT BY 2 DEAR FRIENDS OF MY HUSBAND AND I TOO BE THEIR 3 WEEK OLD DAUGHTERS GODPARENTS. I IMMEDIATLY AGREED AND I WAS SO HONORED. THE THING IS THAT WHEN I WAS READING ONLINE I DISCOVERED THAT AT LEAST ONE GODPARENT HAS TO BE A PRACTICING CATHOLIC. (THE MOM IS CATHOLIC)MY HUSBAND AND I ARE BAPTIST. IS THIS TRUE? ANY INPUT WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED! THANKS AS ALWAYS, DANIELLE

[mejoje]

I am also catholic and I believe that both parents need to catholic, but what a lot of people do if the ones they want to be god parents are not they still have them be "honoriary"(sp?) God parents and pick other for the catholic God parents. I personally talked with my one sister who goas to church every week and has her son in CCD (Sunday School) if she wouldn't mind if something happens to me and orDH that she would be the one to raise my child, But I am going to ask my darest friend to be the actual God Mother. In olden times the godparents where the ones that would take the child if anything would happen to the parents but now a days it is just that they will make sure that the child is brought up in the church. Hope this helped you a little and like I said that is how it is here, actually when I became my nephew's Godmom I needed to provide proof from my church of my status in the church, but that was 8 yrs ago and I don't know if it is just here in PA or something.

[mgi]

I taught catholic religion  (back in the day)
yep, its tru - crazy as heck to me - but true.  only one has to be catholic.  (the reason they do this is because a lot of times people want a husband a wife to be godparents and maybe not both are catholic.)
But you need to ask yourself - not will the church allow it - but can you fulfill that role.  As a baptist - can you honestly say  (I am not looking for an answer - just asking you to make sure)  that you will be able to give this child catholic guidence if they need it in the future?
COngratulations on the honor!

[blondie72]

First off let me say I will probably offend SOOOOOOOO many ppl here but that is NOT my intention just MY OPINION!!!!!!!  I have to say I totally disagree with everything the Catholics do.  I mean you can't take communion in the church if you are NOT Catholic, if you are divorced you CANNOT remarry in the Catholic church, you CANNOT take birth control OMG!!!!!!  For God sake God/Jesus FORGIVES!!!!!!!!!  I mean Jesus invited EVERYONE to his table not just Catholics.  I am Methodist and I was taking classes to become Catholic and something turned me off from that and I met my husband and joined his church and religion.  I have to say though there is politics in our church as well but NOONE has ever been turned away from anything (that I know of) because of their religion.  I think if your friend wants you to be a Godparent then go for it.  You still go to church and believe in God and I think that is all that matters.  I am sorry if I am incorrect in anything I have posted but this has always been my perception of this.

[mgi]

yes you can remarry in the catholic church - you must have your marriage annulled - Catholics tend to follow the bible
We believe birth control is murder!
I is Ok to have your own opinion - that's why there are different religions!
It would be pretty boring if we were all the same religion!
Maybe you should put it in a different perspective BEFORE you bash.
DO you work where there is a uniform?  WHy?  Well, some people can wear jeans to work others only a suit and tie someplaces ladies must wear skirts some places no jewelry - etc.  But if you wear a suit and tie is it right to bash the place that lets their workers wear jeans?  No, we must go where we are comfortable.
Remember the song form grade school, Garden of love?  YOu can be what you are I'll be what I am and we'll live together in the garden of love.?

[AE]

I chose my sister and her husband to be Godparents to my daughter. I did this because if something should happen to both myself and my husband, I wanted her to be raised by them. BTW, none of us are Catholic. And I think it depends on the religion of the parents. Lutherans do it too, and the pastor never mentioned that my sister or hubby had to be Lutherans to be God parents. I don't know, just my story. Good luck.

[blondie72]

I wasn't bashing this has just always been kind of what I was told.  My mom went to Catholic schools and she has always told me things.  I guess that is where I learned everything.  Like I said I was not saying anything to offend just what I had learned from my own mother who like I said was brought up Catholic but never practiced it really.

[shubunkin]

Well, to answer your question.no. I would not be able to raise this child in the catholic religion because I am not catholic and like blondie said, there are alot of things I do not agree with. And how is birth control murder?????????? Abortion is murder but birth control??????? That keeps you from getting pregnant to begin with which leads to unwanted pregnancies and innocent little babies having to go through hell and be tortured after birth. That I definatly do not get. Geez, sorry I ever asked the question now.

[littlewadsworth]

Good morning all. I am Catholic, and here is what I understand the church's teaching to be on birth control. The church opposes it because it interferes with God's natural order (i.e. you are essentially disrupting the chance of conception occuring) and thus acting against His will. My husband disagrees with many of the church's teachings (as did Martin Luther :). We have used birth control and are now doing IVF, which is also frowned upon by the church. So, I am not lecturing anyone because I am not following some of the teachings. I agree-live and let live.  My parents were very strict religious people who did not practice what they preached to their children, so my family was a mess from the word "go".  Hope everyone is having a relaxing holiday weekend!

[mgi]

I don't think you should regret the question.  Treat it like any of the other questions.  We post on this board to get opinions from people with a vast variety of experiences.  SO lets say someone posts cause she is bleeding at 6 weeks.  Should only the people who had great pregnancies and bled respond to her.  No everyone should give their opinions based on experience!  It drives me crazy when people on this board get defensive or angry.  We all are hear to get a different perspective.  If we wanted only one type of answer than why bother going to a board.  So, I just want to tell you that I personally feel any board is for hearing differing experiences.  There are catholics who don't practice, there are police men who steal, there are doctors who do not honor the oaths they took to become doctors.  But we look to these people because they are different.  If we have a question on progesterone and learn about a different way of doing it from this board then tell our doctor - we may have made a difference in our baby's life.  Well, in short, I hope we can look at other difference the same way - we share our PERSONAL experiences!

[mgi]

why do we believe birth control pill (sorry)is murder?  Because the sperm and egg have met and the pill disrupts the environment for a hospitable hoem for the growing life.  We say life begins at conception!  Again - this is the church's belief - not participants.   Again I state we need differences to make the world go round.  But I had to explain why we see the pill as murder!  You can go online to regnum CHristie to learn more about catholic family planning!  God bless!

[karen23]

Catholics believe abortion is murder, not birth control.  Birth control is allowed as long as it's the natural "rhythm method."  No condoms are a huge issue right now in the church, because of what is going on in Africa - the huge AIDS epidemic might be stemmed if the Church would stop it's anti-birth control teachings.  The Catholic Church, like other religions, has a lot of good things about it, and some negative things as well.  Most religions are like this.  These negative issues have given rise to a generation of "cafeteria catholics" who pick and choose the parts of the religion they like, and leave off the rest.  In terms of godparents, Canon Law states both Godparents must be practicing Catholics.  If you don't want that, you should reconsider why you are baptizing your child, according to the Church.  They aren't really hurting for members!!!  I am Catholic, but I use birth control, am pro-choice but still take my kids to church each week, hoping beyond hope that one day the church will see it my way!!! ha ha ha.

[Wisegirl]

I'm Presbyterian and it is not necessary to have Godparents (unless the parents want to). The entire church congregation acts as the childs guide throughout its life.

[shubunkin]

i very much appreciate your response and like you said, it is our differences that make the world go around. i just would much rather see a young lady take birth control than give birth and abuse the baby because she did not want it.
of course if she would had been responsible in the first place and not had sex to begin with. I would imagine your church does not condone sex before marraige of course i can not speak of that because i got pregnant with my first and i was not married but we did get married after the fact and have been happily married for 10 years.the thing is that the mom of the baby i am talking about has 2 other children also both by different dads. So she has 3 kids all by different dads.. our dear friend is the father of the baby girl. he is trying his best to do right her but she is difficult. also, he is Baptist, do both parents have to be Catholic?

[jgirl34]

It dosen't matter, a Godparent is a Godparent, Im pentacostal, you can have Godparents if ya want or if you don't want to! My friend is catholic and her bf don't go to church and im her babys Godmother and Im not catholic and only she is catholic, who cares! Do whatever feels best! And who you would feel comfortable with leaving your children with! I have never gotten the catholic religion either, not saying it's wrong there's just things I don't understand! Try going to your Pastor, ask what he thinks if your not catholic don't read or try to follow what there religion does, follow your heart and do what your religion believes in!

[mgi]

The priest will have to speak to the baby's mom and he will directly ask - "do you agree to raise this child Catholic"  they have to go to class before the baptism.(but both parents do not have to be Catholic.  So many priests are afraid that they will scare people away sometimes they don't stress as much as they should. (my priest is really great - he'll challenge the parents.  LAst year I had a foster kid I wanted baptised.  I was paying for him to go to  agood CAtholic school and so I felt like I was investing in his future.  The principal and his teacher wanted him baptised. My priest said no and explained it so well - I was disappointed but really looked up to him for his conviction.  Now that the boy is no longer with me I am glad I didn;t prevent him from some family with a different set of beliefs.)
I can really feel for that Dad  (your friend).  I think it is hard when you are born and bred Catholic  - because you have strong convictions.  It sounds like that child will have a hard life.  I hope you will be a positive force for it!

[mejoje]

If the father is Baptist also, would the mother, who doesn't seem to be truely Catholic, mind if the baby becomes Baptist? Just a thought and if the father is going to be part of the child's life he does have a say also.

[gonza]

My DH is Catholic as is his entire family.  We could not get married in the church because I am not Catholic.  As far as birth control, we used it.  If you want to be a godparent, go for it.  It is a huge responsibility even if religion is not involved.  Show the child guidence for life and love the child, that is all you can do.  Good luck.

[IWantToBeAMom]

The majority of the Catholic religion is uniform, however there are some things that are individual to each individual diocese.  As I am reading everyone's responses on here, I see that more and more clearly.  For example, someone above me said they could not get married in the Catholic church because she is not Catholic.  In my particular Catholic church, you cannot get married there if you are both non-Catholics, however you CAN get married there if only 1 person is....but the difference is you don't have a full-blown Catholic mass (with communion) which makes the ceremony about 20-30 minutes long.  If you are both Catholic then you have the long 1 hour ceremony, which includes communion.  
As for Godparents, in my church only 1 has to be Catholic.  Or you can have two non-Catholic Godparents along with a 3rd person that is Catholic.  
But to answer the very first question of this post....you cannot be the Godparents if you are both Baptist and don't have a 3rd person - that much I know for sure.  Your friend will have to check with her church to see if they allow the "3rd person" set-up.
Oh, and we don't believe that birth control is murder.  We believe that abortion is murder, and birth control interfere's with God's natural plan.  But my husband was conceived on the rhythm-method and since the Catholic church is not going to help pay for all 20 of our kids, we personally use BC.