Case XXXVIII: What to Do If a Non-Catholic Sponsorship Seems Unavoidable

Case.—The Protestant Titus, whose wife is Catholic, comes to the Catholic priest to ask if he will baptize his first-born; remarking, by the way, that the godfather will be a Protestant friend. Upon being told by the priest that the Catholic Church does not permit non-Catholic sponsors, Titus replies that unfortunately it cannot be helped in this case. The promise has already been given and he could not afford to offend the sponsor as the latter was fairly well to do, and could later on be of substantial assistance to his child. The priest knows well that if he insists on refusing the Protestant sponsor, the Protestant father will have the child baptized by his minister, and therefore he performs the Baptism with the non-Catholic sponsor in order to make sure of the child’s Catholic baptism, and, no doubt, he acts correctly on his part.

Question.—What may the priest do, so that, despite this irregular sponsorship, he may not break the canonical rules?

Solution.—The way out of this difficulty is to let the Protestant sponsor act merely as a witness to the Baptism, as honorary sponsor, but not as real sponsor. In our case this is no doubt allowable, and is not in opposition to the decree of the Holy Office, of May 3rd, 1893, which decrees that Baptism should rather be administered without any sponsors if otherwise a non-Catholic godfather is unavoidable, meaning a sponsorship in the Catholic sense. Since, now, a merely honorary sponsorship is a purely external thing, without any of the obligations towards the child, it is certainly allowed, even if the person is non-Catholic, in a case of necessity. Of course the Protestant sponsor, be it distinctly understood, must not perform any of the functions of a Catholic sponsor, such as making the act of faith or holding the infant during the ceremony; this should be done by some one else present, the nurse for instance, or the sexton. The Protestant may be told that as a Protestant he will not be expected to affirm the Catholic creed. The non-Catholic honorary sponsor is to be entered upon the books merely as witness, not as sponsor.