How many godparents can my child have?

By Dr. Bryan Taylor

Chancellor

Baptism planning can sometimes resemble wedding planning. There is the date, the church, the family gathering and occasionally the delicate question of who gets to be a godparent.

Before worrying about how many, however, there is a more important question: Who qualifies?

A godparent is not simply your favorite relative, best friend or the person most likely to remember your child’s birthday. A godparent must be a fully initiated Catholic, having received Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Communion and who is in good standing and living the Catholic faith. (“Good standing” means a person is in full communion with the Church and is living consistently with its teachings and sacramental life.)

Once you have cleared that hurdle, we can address the next potential family crisis: How many?

Fortunately, canon law is considerably less complicated than family politics.

A child may have one godparent. If there are two, there is to be one male and one female. That is it. Canon 873 contains no exception for large families, cultural traditions, persuasive grandmothers or the unfortunate fact that six relatives have already been told they are godparents.

There is nothing wrong, of course, with surrounding a child with an army of faithful adults who promise to pray for, encourage and support the child. But canonically, they are not all godparents.

Why the limit?

Because being a godparent is not an honorary title. The Church calls the person a sponsor because the person is accepting a real responsibility: helping the newly baptized live the Christian life and grow in the Catholic faith.

A baptized non-Catholic Christian may, in certain circumstances, participate as a Christian witness alongside a Catholic sponsor. But a Christian witness is not another godparent. And a Catholic who does not qualify as a godparent cannot simply be redesignated a “Christian witness.” Canon law saw that workaround coming.

So invite the whole family. Recruit relatives, friends and anyone within six degrees of separation to pray for your child.

But for godparents, the rule is simple: one is enough; two is the limit. Any more is just a crowd. Besides, there isn’t room in the baptismal register for more than two names anyway.