“Ask a Priest: What If I Was a Godparent for a Protestant?”

Q: I came into the Church more than a dozen years ago (I was formerly Lutheran). I have a Protestant nephew who is my godchild. I attended his baptism, which might have been a couple of months after my confirmation (I honestly cannot recall). When I was asked by my sister to be his godparent (and accepted), I was very new to the Church and didn’t realize this wasn’t in accordance with Church teaching. My questions are: 1) If done in complete ignorance, is this a sin? 2) What do I need to do in this case? I’ve since learned that Catholics could only have Catholic godparents, but I never thought about Catholics being godparents to Protestant children. I would appreciate any advice. – M.M.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: If you were ignorant of the rules, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. If it gives you peace of mind to mention it in confession, that’s fine.

Otherwise, it would be good to simply avoid doing or promoting anything that would be at odds with your Catholic faith.

That is, never give your nephew the idea that Protestant ministers and Catholic priests are the same, or that Protestant “communion” and Catholic Communion are interchangeable. You get the idea.

You probably realize now that being a godparent (in theory, at least) means helping to raise a child in a particular faith. That’s why it makes sense for a godparent to share the same faith as the child.

If your nephew asks about your Catholic faith, you could explain it as best you can and, at an opportune moment, explain why you converted. You’d want to be sensitive toward his parents, however, and how they want to raise their son.

In the meantime, you could pray for his conversion.

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