# Godparents-must be one male,one female?



## rosey (22 Jan 2010)

hi, 
Wonder if anybody knows if instead of having a god mother and god father in a Roman Catholic baptism- if you can have 2 sponsors of the same sex?
Has anybody seen this before?...got conflicting info from 2 churches I approached.
Any info appreciated


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## Rose (22 Jan 2010)

My granddaughter who will be 8 on her next birthday has two godmothers and the church didn't have any problems with that.


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## vectra (22 Jan 2010)

my son is 2 and has 2 godfathers no godmother.  priest had no problem with it.


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## Firehead (23 Jan 2010)

My brother wanted to have two godmothers and no godfather for his little one last year but priest wouldn't allow it, so really I think it depends on the flexability of the priest.


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## Padraigb (23 Jan 2010)

Maybe things will become more restrictive now that the church is opposing civil union!


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## donee (23 Jan 2010)

my son who's 10 now has two God mothers and no God father as we simply had no one to ask as we only have one brother each and they had already stood for our other children. we were both of the opinion though that it should be a family member. Until i saw this post i did'nt think it was an issue at all. last year my sister in law asked her father ie the childs grand father to be God father and there was no issue with it. Now i thought that was strange.


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## liaconn (23 Jan 2010)

My grandfather was my Godfather and, to be honest, I think it was a strange choice as well.


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## Sue Ellen (23 Jan 2010)

Daughter has two godmothers, one relative and one a friend.  Priest had no problem with this.


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## Complainer (23 Jan 2010)

Firehead said:


> My brother wanted to have two godmothers and no godfather for his little one last year but priest wouldn't allow it, so really I think it depends on the flexability of the priest.


Time to find another priest.


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## Noor77 (24 Jan 2010)

My Grandmother was my Godmother and I thought it was kind of strange too!


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## hoopman (24 Jan 2010)

I am Godfather to my younger sister and her Godmother is an older sister.

One of my children has two Godmothers and one Godfather. the Godfather and one of the Godmothers are not RC, so Priest insisted that the child must have at least one RC Godparent


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## rosey (25 Jan 2010)

thanks for all the replies guys,same as donee above- we both have brothers
I thought it could be done- my local priest at home said yes no problem but where I now live- woman organising baptisms told me no- it was church law!
I'm going to approach priest directly and see if he'll do it. ..thanks again


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## foxylady (25 Jan 2010)

rosey said:


> thanks for all the replies guys,same as donee above- we both have brothers
> I thought it could be done- my local priest at home said yes no problem but where I now live- woman organising baptisms told me no- it was church law!
> I'm going to approach priest directly and see if he'll do it. ..thanks again


 
Who was this woman - was she not just a church secretary in which case I would have thought she should just be organising the dates - cant see how its any of her business what sex the godparents are


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## batty (25 Jan 2010)

Myself and sister are Godmothers to a niece (no godfather).  Before she was baptised the priest asked could he talk to us together.  He gave a lovely speech about the church welcoming all people, even "women like us".


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## Mpsox (25 Jan 2010)

Actually under Canon Law, you only need 1 Godparent, 2 are not required, although it is the norm. Canon Law goes on to say that there may be 2 godparents, one of each sex. 

Therefore where a priest allows 2 godparent of the same sex, he is technically probably breaking Canon Law, but he is also probably showing a welcome degree of common sense if that is what the family wants.


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## rosey (28 Jan 2010)

Thanks Mpsox that makes sense now..
I rang priest directly and he said yes he thought it was ok as long as they were Catholic...but he wasn't completely sure - he'd have to check it out..and guess what!- there was somebody there right then he could ask...lucky me- and onto the phone came the woman I talked to before who told me again- no!!!ha ha!!!
I said that I understood it is often done and it seems to be at the discretion of the priest- she said it was church law and any priest agreeing to it didn't know church law!! so....bit of a pain but c'est la vie....thanks again for all replies


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## Teatime (29 Jan 2010)

_post deleted 


As we have now moved into Letting Off Steam territory I am closing this thread

Brendan_


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