Document Title: "Choosing godparents
Question from on 05-20-2007:
I have a quick question about choosing godparents. Having two kids (so far) the godparents have not included any in-laws. This is due to the observed lack of faithfulness to Catholic teachings (e.g. the weekend of an in-law's baby's baptism, the parents did not attend Mass).
The quandry we have is that the in-laws are expressing disapproval over not being chosen as godparents. Further, due to living a great distance away, w/ the 2nd baby we did not wait 6 months (as the inlaws requested) so they could make vacation arrangements to attend. We take the Canonical requirements seriously to baptize asap and explained this, but things were not fully understood.
If/when there is another baby, how should we explain that we are not choosing in-laws as godparents. We do not consider being a godparent as an 'award' or a special title, but rather as an important role to be fulfilled by practicing Catholics. Also, we do not want 'Christian witnesses' just to appease family. We must be careful with our words b/c the in-laws do hold heretical beliefs on many issues (e.g. contraception, confession).
Advice?
Pax Christi.
Answer by Rev. Mark J. Gantley, JCL on 05-28-2007:"
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