Confirmation Sponsors

[Rejected]

My husband and I entered the Church in January, but have not yet been confirmed.  We are wondering if we can choose one person to sponsor us both for confirmation, or if we each need a different sponsor.  If one person can sponsor us both, is that unusual for married couples being confirmed?  Thanks for your help.

[David W. Emery]

This specific situation seems not to be foreseen in the regulations concerning sponsors; at least nothing is mentioned along these lines. Likely you can do it if you want, but you will need to check with your pastor to make absolutely sure before making your arrangements.

David

[Rejected]

Thanks David.  According to our priest it's fine for us to have the same sponsor.  My husband was planning on choosing one of the men in our Church who he knows from work, but because he's in management his boss thought it was best if he didn't choose someone that worked with him.  So, we decided it would be nice if we both had the same sponsor and it worked out fine.

[DrDave]

I too have looked into the regs about sponsors, and I can't see anything that even hints that there might be a problem here.

Most of the regulations center around 1) whether the prospective sponsor is a suitable candidate for the role of sponsor, i.e. Catholic in good standing etc, and 2) whether the the prospective sponsor's relationship with the candidate is incompatable with the role of sponsor, i.e. the role of sponsor includes being an ADDITIONAL support for the candidate, and as such is inappropriate for parents and spouses, since support for the candidate is already part of their role.

Given that, the question comes down to whether it is 'advisable' for both members of a couple newly entering the Church to have the same sponsor, to which my answer would be "it depends"

I can hypothetically see the possibility of a couple being in such different places on their spiritual journey that sharing a Sponsor (who is also presumably to some degree a confidant and advisor) could become a challenge and even a stumbling block for any, or even all, involved.

Likewise I can see a couple being so close with each other that it would be an advantage having the same sponsor who is supporting both partners who are on the one jounney

So like David said, if your Pastor's OK with it, it's simply a matter of whether it's the right thing for the two of you in your particular situation, and that's your call to make.

Regards Doc

[Talithacumi]

Speaking of Confirmation and sponsors, have any of you who've been Catholic for quite a few years noticed a shift in some of the customs? For instance, when I was a kid, it was customary to take as one's patron saint the name of a saint that you'd already been named after. For instance, my middle name is Ann, so St. Anne was my Confirmation name/saint. Nowadays, I notice that the Candidates often take on an entirely different name, according to what saint they feel that they connect with in some spiritual way. I think it actually makes more sense this way - taking a different name, especially considering that whenever God brought about a dramatic change in someone's life, their name was changed to reflect that they were a "new creation." For instance, "Abram" became "Abraham," "Jacob" became "Israel," "Saul" became "Paul," etc...

I notice also that the Candidates (btw, I'm speaking mostly about the younger set of the generally 7th & 8th grade set who are already baptized and practicing Catholics) are much less picky nowadays about the gender and age of their sponsor. This is a little harder for me to accept as the norm. In the old days girls picked a woman, boys picked a man. Now it doesn't seem to matter, and even age doesn't seem to matter as much. Now the sponsors don't seem to have to be "older." They just have to have been Catholic for awhile... I'm not sure of the age limit on the younger side, but it seems to be not as uncommon now to have a young sponsor in their teens.

I don't exactly care for this particular shift in customs regarding gender and age. Maybe I'm analyzing too much, but I guess to me it seems to reflect a modernist view of the gender role confusion and the youth culture, where now we have a far less distinct "gender" differentiation - seems like so much of society has become, well... "neutered," in a sense. And as for age, having young sponsors is sort of indicative of the youth culture of today's society. The wisdom of age doesn't seem to have as much importance anymore...

Am I being too analytical? I know I can be at times...

Or maybe I've just been imagining things and there hasn't been a real shift in customs except maybe in my own parish...?

JMJ
- Cheri

[Rejected]

Thanks for your input Doc.  My husband and I have been married almost 25 years and are very close.  We met in Bible college, and have consistently shared our faith journey together.  We studied the Catholic faith together for approximately 4 years, and entered the Church together.  For us, having the same sponsor seemed like the most natural thing to do.  Our priest was very pleased with our choice, as are we.  For us, having the same sponsor was the perfect choice.  Our sponsor is a wonderful person and we wouldn't change a thing! By the way, we have now been confirmed.

[sewnsew]

my (our sponsers) werean older couple who were influential in our journey- it was fitting that they sponsers to both of us.