Sacramental Sponsors
Sponsor certificates are not required by church law. Please refer to Canons 873-874 and 892- 893 regarding this matter. Our parish does not participate in this unnecessary procedure. Instead, we just follow church law by accepting the sponsor who is duly designated by the person who is receiving the sacrament – or, in the case of children, by that person’s parents. Please join us in following the teaching of the Catholic Church in regard to the protocols for selecting sponsors. God bless you, and may you have a prayerful sacramental celebration! Please scroll down for more information about sacramental sponsors.
Concerning Sponsors for Baptism
Canon 873. There is to be only one male sponsor or one female sponsor or one of each.
Canon 874. §1. To be permitted to take on the function of sponsor a person must:
1/ be designated by the one to be baptized, by the parents or the person who takes their place, or in their absence by the pastor or minister and have the aptitude and intention of fulfilling this function;
2/ have completed the sixteenth year of age, unless the diocesan bishop has established another age, or the pastor or minister has granted an exception for a just cause;
3/ be a Catholic who has been confirmed and has already received the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist and who leads a life of faith in keeping with the function to be taken on;
4/ not be bound by any canonical penalty legitimately imposed or declared;
5/ not be the father or mother of the one to be baptized.
§2. A baptized person who belongs to a non-Catholic ecclesial community is not to participate except together with a Catholic sponsor and then only as a witness of the baptism.
Concerning Sponsors for Confirmation
Canon 892. Insofar as possible, there is to be a sponsor for the person to be confirmed; the sponsor is to take care that the confirmed person behaves as a true witness of Christ and faithfully fulfills the obligations inherent in this sacrament.
Canon 893. §1. To perform the function of sponsor, a person must fulfill the conditions mentioned in canon 874. §2. It is desirable to choose as sponsor the one who undertook the same function in baptism.
