An example of such a commitment could be the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. In each case, we are making a life-long commitment to dedicate ourselves totally to God through the Catholic Church. As important as that is, we do not do it by ourselves. We need the help and support of someone who is more advanced that we are, someone who is a good example of how to live our Catholic faith. We call that person a “sponsor,” though we can just as well use the common term for baptism sponsors, “godparents.”
The role of sponsor is to help bring someone into the Catholic faith, with the understanding that our faith will be the most important part of our lives. Therefore, the person who serves that role should be a good role model for Catholic living. The sponsor should be able to help the newly baptized or confirmed to live more thoroughly by the Church’s teaching. Therefore, sponsors should be living that faith in their own lives. That is why someone who is asked to be a sponsor must get a letter from his or her pastor, stating that they meet the basic requirements.
The view of the Church is that a sponsor has to be mature enough to serve as a role model of faith. Therefore, sponsors should be at least 16 years old. The law of the Church does give pastors some room for discretion for a younger person whom I judge to be sufficiently mature. In addition, the sponsor has to be fully initiated into the Catholic faith. That means that to be a sponsor, one must have received the Sacrament of Confirmation. I do not have any authority to relax that requirement, as I do with the age requirement, because it is important that the sponsor be fully a part of the Church.
The other requirement is a little harder to pin down, but a sponsor must be actively living the Catholic faith. There are two important points that I always look for here. First of all, a sponsor has to be going to Mass regularly. The Eucharist is the most important part of our identity as Catholics, and we have to be taking a regular part in the Mass. After all, we are making a commitment that the candidate will come to Mass regularly, so our candidates deserve someone who will be an example of that commitment. Also, if the sponsor is married, then the marriage has to be valid as a sacrament. In other words, they have to be married in the Catholic Church.
There is more to be said on this topic, and I will continue it next week.
Father H
