Those who are born Catholic receive a godparent at Baptism during childhood. This is also the case, for example, in the Lutheran Church. Although I myself have been Catholic for many years, my now 87-year-old Lutheran godmother still walks alongside me. We meet for coffee and remember birthdays and feast days, even though the role of Christian formation has gradually receded into the background.
A Sponsor for Everyone
When an adult is received into the Catholic Church, he or she must have a Catholic sponsor who is at least sixteen years old and has received the Sacrament of Confirmation. Ideally, the confirmation sponsor is identified soon after it becomes clear that the person will be received into the Church.
The sponsor walks alongside the candidate, offering support and guidance, answering questions, and clarifying matters that may have been introduced during the introductory course but later forgotten.
If an unbaptised person is preparing to enter the Catholic Church, it is an important responsibility of the entire parish to guide the catechumen toward Baptism. What is essential, however, is that the person to be baptised already has a sponsor at this stage – someone who offers support and takes part in the sacred rites of initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist.
A Lifelong Friendship
Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist are joyful and love-filled sacraments that may bring tears to the eyes, even while the heart is filled with gratitude and joy. After being received into full communion with the Church, it can feel as though the world is filled with light and love.
At best, two people – the catechumen and the sponsor – gain a lifelong friend. The sponsor does not disappear. When everyday life takes over, prayer is neglected, faith wavers, and participation in the life of the Church diminishes, the sponsor is the one to whom one should be able to turn. The sponsor understands that everyone experiences moments of weakness and that it can be difficult to persevere alone. Even when one feels to be at the very bottom of a pit, the sponsor knows that there is only one direction from there – upward. The sponsor helps the person to see that Christ does not abandon us.
Sponsorship Is a Vocation
Being a sponsor requires commitment. It must not be reduced to a brief formality in which one meets twice – the day before Confirmation and at the celebration itself – and then never again. Such arrangements do not constitute genuine sponsorship, nor is sponsorship a role undertaken for personal recognition.
A person received into the Church is not complete – and never will be. It is often easier to drift away and remain at home. Only a small proportion of those received into the Church become active in parish life, and attendance at Mass may at times be limited to Christmas and Easter. For this reason, sponsorship should be undertaken with the sincere desire to support the catechumen’s journey into the Church and, above all, to help ensure that after reception the new Catholic remains within the Church, faith grows, hope is strengthened, and love is kindled.
Where Can a Sponsor Be Found?
It is often said that parish coffee gatherings are the place where a potential sponsor can be found. This is true, but not everyone has the opportunity to participate regularly, especially in areas with long distances and infrequent Masses.
Those who take part in online introductory courses may encounter the parish community even less frequently. A priest may assist in finding a sponsor, but a parishioner who has come to know catechumens through small groups or online courses can be a key person. Such a person is often well placed to suggest suitable sponsor candidates.
A Sponsor Group
In the cathedral parish, we are considering the establishment and training of a dedicated sponsor group. This group would consist of people from various backgrounds, united by a vocation to be a source of support, stability, and guidance for those preparing to enter the Church. Especially after reception into the Church, it is important that the sponsor remains available when the need arises.
Sponsorship Is a Gift
Sponsorship is an important responsibility. My aim as a sponsor is to be present, to encourage, and to help. When necessary, I encourage prayer, reading the daily Scripture readings, attending Mass, or going to Confession. I help to open eyes when it feels as though they have stopped seeing. I offer intercessory prayer when asked, and when needed, I repeat things patiently and consistently. I remind the person that there is no need to rush from one task to another, but that it is wise to proceed calmly.
I, too, continue to learn, and my faith deepens. Each of us has been given particular gifts, and we are all different. There are many kinds of service, and by the power of the one and same Spirit, one person is given the gift of wisdom, another the gift of knowledge, and another the gift of helping. Perhaps genuine sponsorship is one such gift. The right path becomes clear when we are patient enough to listen with our hearts.
Christel Monni
Examples of Questions Addressed to a Confirmation Sponsor
Reading
• Catechism, Bible, prayer book
• Master the basics first – only then papal writings
Church, chapel, and tabernacle
• Behaviour in church and chapel – “rituals”
• Dress for Mass
• Church stained glass and art
• Cantemus: the structure of the Mass in this light
Prayer
• What and how: alone at home, with family, together in church
• Different rosaries, such as the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet
• Eucharistic adoration, Stations of the Cross
• Novenas: at different times and for different themes
• Liturgy of the Hours: Lauds, Vespers, short hours, Compline
• Lectio Divina, Bible study group
• Reading Scripture, Ordo
• Sundays: Years A, B, C
• Weekdays: Years I and II
• Weeks 1–4
Saints, the meaning of a patron saint, and the celebration of feast days
Sacraments
(Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, Matrimony)
Confession
• Practice, frequency, documentation
• Commandments, conscience, vices, different types of sin
Differences between Catholic, Lutheran, and Orthodox traditions
Feasts and their observance
• Holy days, Sundays and weekdays, obligations
• Streaming and its relationship to the Eucharist
• Fasting, Easter, Advent, Christmas, Midsummer, and Ordinary Time
• Ash Wednesday, Easter season, Ascension, Pentecost
Reception into the Church in outline, including dress
Other activities
• Let good things grow quietly – do not rush into everything at once
(= 1 Cor. 12:7–11)
All are of equal value
• Accept the views of others, even if you do not adopt them as your own.