What makes a good sponsor?
The sponsor is an invaluable assistant to the parents in the formation of faith.
The sponsor needs to be able to fulfill several requirements.
The sponsor is an invaluable assistant to the parents in the formation of faith.
The sponsor needs to be able to fulfill several requirements.
- The Church requires that the sponsor be an active, practicing Catholic who has already celebrated the sacrament of Confirmation. The Church recognizes that a person cannot share what the person does not have. Therefore, sponsors must:
- Receive the Eucharist regularly
- Live the gospel values
- Not be married outside of the Church or otherwise compromised in their Sacramental Life.
- It is important that the sponsor be more mature, more informed, and more experienced in the ways of our faith and culture than the candidate (at least 16 years of age).
- The sponsor should be a person who already has a relationship of trust with the candidate.
- It is recommended that the sponsor be an older person who has some experience with his or her faith and, hence, a clearer perspective from which to speak.
- The sponsor is to be an older friend or relative whom the candidate can confide.
- The sponsor needs to be willing to meet with the candidate on a regular basis prior to the celebration of Confirmation and to continue the faith journey after the celebration of Confirmation.
- The sponsor needs to be willing to attend one sponsor/candidate meeting, rehearsal if possible, the Rite of Welcome and Commitment.
- The sponsor is one who is willing to share his or her faith with the candidate.
- The sponsor is an assistant to the parents as the primary educators of the faith.
- The sponsor needs to be open, honest, caring, committed, and encouraging.
- The sponsor should help the candidate grow in his or her understanding of God in his or her life.
- It is recommended that the baptism sponsors be asked to be sponsors for Confirmation. If the sponsor will be someone other than the baptism sponsors, only one may be chosen.
- A parent or step-parent may NOT be a Confirmation sponsor.