Baptism

 

The Sacrament of Baptism joyfully celebrates the entrance of new members into our Catholic Christian community and in to the Body of Christ, and fully reforms and proclaims the baptized as a child of God. This renewal allows the baptized to grow in faith through the grace of justification, which strengthens faith in three ways, by:
 

Baptism is an essential and foundational aspect of the Catholic faith.

The celebration of infant Baptism is scheduled on most Sundays. In preparation for this event, parents must attend a Baptismal preparation class. Please call Kelly Gibbons at 410-838-3627 or email kgibbons@stignatiushickory.org to register for the class and to schedule the Baptism.

Choosing Godparents:

Your child's Baptism is a big day for your family and you want to do the right thing.  Choosing godparents is a decision not to be taken lightly.  Too often parents want to honor a special friend, repay a favor, or encourage a non-relative to have a closer relationship with their child.  While all of these motives are well intentioned, they are not ideal.  If you want to be happy about your  decision, consider the following.

Above all, a godparent serves a special role for the one being baptized.  Godparents are to represent the Christian Catholic community, the Church.  They are to assist the child's parents  in rainsing their child in the Catholic faith, so that the child may profess and live it as an adult.

Thus, if we remember a few basic things about Baptism - it gives a person both a new and special status as a child of God and it makes a person a member of the Body of Christ, the Church - then what you are looking for are godparents who can truly represent that Christian community.  Basically, this means you want at least one active and committed Catholic.  The  Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "...the godfather and godmother ... must be firm believers, able and ready to help the newly baptized child on the road of Christian life."  This is the Church's way of saying that being a godparent is truly a ministry in the Church, and not simply an honor.

In fact, the whole Church community bears some responsibility for the development and nurturing of the grace given your child at Baptism.  Much of this will come later in parish religious education and even classes for you on Christian parenting.

This means that you should choose a firm believer, someone who is truly committed to the Catholic faith in which your new baby will be baptized.

Suppose that you want a certain married couple to be the godparents.  The wife is truly committed to the Catholic faith in which your child will be  baptized.  But what about the husband who is Christian but not Catholic?  The Church has a solution for this, too.  Since the wife is a practicing Catholic, and a perfect choice as a godmother, she will be the officially designated  godparent, while her husband - a great Christian and committed to his own faith - can serve as an official witness.  This is fully in line with Church law.  Only one godparent is necessary, although both a godfather and a godmother are preferred.  So while the husband -  a Christian witness - will set an example, it will be the wife's duty as  godmother to share specifics of the Catholic faith.

To ensure that a godparent is capable of this, Church law also insists that this person be at least 16 years old (for maturity's sake), fully initiated (having received Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist), be someone other than the legal parents and one who leads a life in harmony with the Church.

All this may seem like quite a bit, but the purpose is to ensure that the rich and beautiful faith of the Church is passed on to your child in the most loving and authentic way possible.  Hopefully, you know by now that the task of choosing godparents is one which should be performed with much prayer, careful thought and with greatest concern for the precious spiritual life of your child.


 

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Godparent Eligibility Forms

 

• It is essential at least one godparent must be a fully initiated, practicing Catholic at least 16 years of age who has received the Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist); who can also have the Godparent Eligibility form filled out and signed at their parish, where they are registered members.

 

• A second godparent may be a Christian Witness from another Christian denomination.  This person must be a baptized Christian.