MyCatholicSource.com - 'Quick Help' Page: Not Permitted To Be Godparent

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The following is what I found in the 1983 Code of Canon Law (law of the Church) regarding sponsors for baptism (Godparents)...

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CHAPTER IV. SPONSORS

CHAPTER IV.

SPONSORS

Can. 872 Insofar as possible, a person to be baptized is to be given a sponsor who assists an adult in Christian initiation or together with the parents presents an infant for baptism. A sponsor also helps the baptized person to lead a Christian life in keeping with baptism and to fulfill faithfully the obligations inherent in it.

Can. 873 There is to be only one male sponsor or one female sponsor or one of each.

Can. 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 [a false church] is not to participate except together with a Catholic sponsor and then only as a witness of the baptism.

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Had you met the above and as well as any other applicable requirements, you should be allowed to perform this role. Perhaps in your case there is an issue with #3 – "leads a life of faith" – if you have been missing Mass. However, if there was a grave cause for missing Mass, you can explain this to the pastor. If the only issue is that you are not registered at a parish, I would think this matter could be cleared up fairly quickly by registering. This does, of course, assume there are no other serious issues (e.g. 'remarriage', excommunicated due to an abortion, etc.). Of course if the matter was more severe than not being registered, it does seem like it could take longer to resolve as well as to show that you were "leading a life of faith". Certainly, it is a grave obligation to fulfill the Third Commandment, including attendance at Mass on Sunday unless you have a serious reason not to. Hopefully your missing Mass was for a grave reason. If so, this should be explained to the pastor.

Best wishes to you for a holy resolution to this matter.

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