Baptism Week {Choosing Godparents}
Welcome to Baptism Week at Team Whitaker!
This is the second post of a five-part series:
Preparing for the Sacrament (What the Sacrament Means)
Choosing Godparents (Finding People to Support Your Child)
+ BOWL SET Giveaway from Clarey Clayworks
Looking Your Best (Dressing the Part for Your Child’s Big Day)
+ $100 PHOTO CREDIT from Renee Blood Photography,
ST. GERARD EARRINGS from Loreto Rosaries and
BAPTISM BONNET AND THREE-PIECE SET + 20% OFF from Blessings Christian Gift Shop in West
Feeding the Party (Making the Celebration Awesome)
+ HOLY WATER FONT by Portraits of Saints
Saying Thanks (Showing Your Appreciation)
+ WOODEN DOLL by St. Luke’s Brush and NOTECARDS by FlorLarios
Aside from the importance we place on naming our children, choosing their Godparents means a great deal to us, as it provides a positive start to steer their faith life in the right direction. There are numerous resources on things to consider when selecting a Godparent for your child, namely this.
For us, we’ve always asked ourselves these questions:
1. Are they faithful Catholics? Do they practice their faith actively, with joy and through their witness, both spoken and unspoken? What do others say about them?
2. Is it someone with whom you work? At one point long ago, we considered asking a Godparent from our work circles, but ended up not asking that person. Ultimately, it was a good thing we avoided that tie. We were young and not accustomed to how some work relationships don’t make the best personal ones. Not asking co-workers is a family thing for us, but you may have different rules. Whatever they are, stick to them.
3. Has this person played a special role in your pregnancy or faith life? When I found out I was pregnant with Will, the choice for his Godparents was a no-brainer. God really led us to choose them, more than us choosing them of our own volition. With each child, the Godparents were obvious to our hearts. Their role in our life was undeniable and each of them has become like family. Because, like it or not, they have a permanent place here!
4. Choose them for your child, not for you. Sometimes, we’re tempted to choose someone who isn’t Catholic to be our child’s Godparent. While it’s true that only one Godparent must be Catholic, I challenge you to choose two! If the Godparents’ role is to truly help form, pray and shape your child’s faith life, your best friend who’s Jewish may have a hard time fulfilling that role. And, know that if you choose to ask a religious priest, sister or brother, they may decline. It may be a personal, or an order, thing. Don’t take it personally. I’m betting that if you ask, they’ll be happy to take on the “spiritual prayer warrior” role for your child, whether they are officially the Godparent or not.
5. To choose, or not choose, a family member? Some parents only choose a relative and others choose to never select one. Whatever your belief (and I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer), put it to prayer. This is a big decision and family/friend politics should never play a role.
TODAY’S GIVEAWAY
It is, admittedly, one of my favorites. Anne and I met via the interwebs and I have loved her pieces ever since. They are beautifully hand-crafted and she is a gem of a gal. You can enter to win a two-bowl baptism set: one for the baptism and one for the Godparent. I know. Crazy awesome. If you win, the bowls will be customized for you. Just make sure you have the baptism bowl blessed by a priest before the big day!
Clarey Clayworks: Facebook, Etsy, Pinterest and Twitter
You know what they say about cheaters. Don’t do it. I’m watching, Rafflecopter.
Picking our eldest’s godparents was super easy. Then choosing #2’s was not too hard. But then with #3 we did not decide until a few weeks after she was born. It was definitely a major topic of discussion for a good while in utero and ex-utero!
My youngest sister is about to have her first child and I am so excited for her and her husband! We are looking forward to his birth and baptism.
My advice would be to only pick relatives or people you are 95% certain you will have contact with for the rest of your life. My oldest child’s godparents are college friends of mine, whcih is fine, because I have kept in touch with them, but all my other children have relatives as godparents, simply because they are relatives, we will also be in contact with them, while friends come and go, they move away, things change, etc.
That’s a rule in our (whole, extended) family too — choose a family member (usually, one from each side of the family), or if you must, a very close friend whom you’re sure will be around for life. I like that, because I think my children deserve to actually know their godparents. But having that priority can make it hard to have godparents who are super dedicated Catholics. Unfortunately, we just don’t have many in our families. Which is what made our choice so difficult this go-round (our third). We ended up choosing my cousin, who is a practicing Catholic, as godfather and my husband’s sister-in-law, who is a very devoted Christian, but not Catholic, as “Christian witness.” Perhaps it’s not the ideal choice, but it’s a good one.
I love the one with the gray cross. I love all of our Godparents that we have chosen. None of them have children yet, one is a priest, and the support they offer is amazing. I love that I can always shoot them an email asking for prayers.
My bowl would have a blue cross for my newest little Aggie nephew and godson who will be arriving in just a couple of weeks! Whoop!
The bowl for us would be blue. I am so excited to be welcoming a new nephew this summer! Thanks for the chance to win!
I found choosing Godparents to be a little difficult. I am of the stick with family mentality basically because I saw first hand how my sister didn’t have her Godparents in her life (my parents’ friends), but I did (my mother’s brother and wife). Makes a big difference, as far as I’m concerned. However – to each their own!
Win or not I will be ordering one of these! They are beautiful! Wish I had known about these with the other kids. I love gray. I’m a sucker for a neutral. We are having a difficult time deciding on middle names and Godparents. It’s such a huge decision that before I became Catholic, I didn’t give it as much thought. We just chose people we loved and knew loved us and our children. It just so happened that at least one of the Godparents we chose was Catholic. That being said, now not all of them are practicing so this time around it has to be just right!
I think choosing Godparents was the hardest part of the baptism process for our family. We are expecting a baby in July and I honestly don’t know who we will choose.
I agree that choosing good faithful godparents is a very important decision. That is definitely a topic my husband and I talk and pray about often. I had a very sweet godmother, whom I really only see once a year and she was not really a part of my faith journey (godfather wasn’t at all), but God did provide a lot of other people who were a part of my journey of faith. I’m just saying even if we choose someone who we think will be a very good godparent and they fall short, God will provide others in the child’s life who will be that awesome influence.
That’s a great point, Kari!
Decisions, decisions. Since my “little” brother is having his first baby and it is a girl, I think we have to go with pink!
Hmm, pink, I think. Thanks for the giveaway!
Great blog! Thank you for the reminder to turn the Godparent selection over to prayer. As a fellow Catholic with a 27 weeker in the nicu my judgement is cloudy. 🙂 will be asking Jesus for guidance. Thanks again!
Jen, I hope your time in the NICU is short, speaking from a momma who understands. May your days be boring, your feeds be plentiful and your NICU nurses and doctors supportive!
The decision is not easy for us- being fairly recent converts. Thankfully, we have a large group of friends to choose from, but agreeing with the husband is not always easy!
Currently pregnant with my fourth and this time we are not finding out gender, so I would choose gray!
My youngest sister is having a little boy any day. She would love the blue!
PINK! For our newest daughter joining us this July!
And can I say, this series is FABULOUS. Simply fabulous!
Hi Kathryn. I discovered your blog via conversion diary and I am hooked! Love your content and photos which have inspired birthday party ideas and more.
Thanks for the giveaway opportunity. These bowls are beautiful.
We are expecting #8 in very soon, so my oldest two, a girl and a boy are 18 and 16, and have both been confirmed. Both have thoughts of a possible vocation in religious life. I think they will be wonderful godparents for our new son, and give them a special bond because they will be away at school while our son is growing up.
I love these bowls and have them pinned for my son’s First Communion. Godparents have always been tricky for us. We know a lot of Catholics, just none that we’re super close to and the ones we are close with don’t exactly practice their faith. We just prayed and trusted that God would help us on the journey even if we couldn’t find the “perfect” Godparents.
Pink please!
We opted to pick one family member and one friend for each of the kids ~ hopefully a good balance.
I would pick gray because I’m 32 weeks with a baby whose gender is unknown at this time. Looking forward to finding out soon!
What special keepsakes; I would choose blue!
Great insight and love the giveaway…whoop!
I’ve loved these ever since you started blogging about them. I’d pick gray.
We don’t know the gender yet with #6… So grey… Godparents are very special to my kids!!
we would use our bowl set for our newest little one, our #8, arriving in Sept. blue or pink TBD in April! Thanks!
I’d love a set in blue for our Andrew and his Godparents. We planned his Baptism quickly after he spent over 2 months in the NICU. I’ve been looking for something meaningful to commentate that perfect day 🙂
Our bowl would be blue! Our first child arrived six weeks early, but he is healthy and now at home. His baptism is coming up soon!
We struggled with picking Godparents for our first baby (a girl) who is due in May. We preferred to pick family, but didn’t really have relatives we felt wouldn’t say, “I’m Catholic, but…” [I don’t do x, I don’t agree with the Church on y, I don’t really go to mass ever, etc]. Because of that, we picked a married couple who are very strong in their faith – and we’re the Godparents for their first child, a boy. We also liked the idea of the Godparents as a married couple, as it supports the idea of marriage from a young age and also helps them keep up with each other as far as events in her life (as opposed to two Godparents who don’t know each other – easier to forget).
We’re having a girl, so I’d go with gray or maybe pink! If purple was an option I’d pick that 🙂 Coincidentally we bought this for our Godson and the Deacon at the church where he was baptized thought it was the coolest thing ever 🙂
Blue!! My son just.got.baptised and these.are just beautiful!!!
Pink!!!! These are beautiful!
I totally goofed with my first child. I asked my brother to be the godfather and he assumed his wife was the godmother. We adore her but had another godmother in mind. We didn’t realize the confusion until that day.
Expecting #3 in June and will need a set of blue bowls for his Baptism. I’m in love with them!!
love them all!
[…] is the third post of a five-part series: Preparing for the Sacrament (What the Sacrament Means) Choosing Godparents (Finding People to Support Your Child) + BOWL SET Giveaway from Clarey Clayworks Looking Your Best […]
Hands in the air for BLUE!
I’d love to hear you address the issue of what to do when it seems like you don’t have anyone from which to choose.
For Daniel, we will have two godmothers, Angie, and another dear Catholic girlfriend of mine. I know many people struggle with making the choice.
I think there are many more folks in the category of “who to choose” than not, Dianna. If family doesn’t provide any Godparents, then I think you should look to friends (or even extended family or in-laws) to fill that role. Who is at your parish that you admire and respect? That’s a good place to start. And, if there aren’t two viable candidates, you can baptize with just one practicing Catholic!
Those bowls are so simple and beautiful! Even though we’re not Catholic, the baptism of our children was a big deal in our little family, so I’m really enjoying this series. Wishing I could do it all again!
We have chosen a different married couple for each of our 5 children as their godparents. None of them are family, as we are both converts to Catholicism and don’t have any Catholic family. We love all the couples we’ve selected as godparents, and we try to keep in touch, even with those who live far away now. We believe the best support they can offer is many prayers for our children! We just had a little baby girl, and she was baptized on 2-23-14. We did hire a photographer this time, for the first time! I’m so glad we did!
We would have to go gender neutral with grey!
Pink for a friend 🙂
We ordered one of the bowls for our Goddaughter’s baptism in November and we’d love for our ourselves!
Those bowls are beautiful! BLUE!
[…] is the fourth post of a five-part series: Preparing for the Sacrament (What the Sacrament Means) Choosing Godparents (Finding People to Support Your Child) + BOWL SET Giveaway from Clarey Clayworks Looking Your Best […]
[…] is the fifth post of a five-part series: Preparing for the Sacrament (What the Sacrament Means) Choosing Godparents (Finding People to Support Your Child) + BOWL SET Giveaway from Clarey Clayworks Looking Your Best […]
[…] is the first post of a five-part series: Preparing for the Sacrament (What the Sacrament Means) Choosing Godparents (Finding People to Support Your Child) + BOWL SET Giveaway from Clarey Clayworks Looking Your […]
[…] Choosing godparents can be a challenge, especially if your extended family isn’t Catholic. My friend Kathryn walks you through some of the steps you should consider when choosing godparents for your Catholic children. […]