Oh, Dearest Mother, Sweetest Virgin of Altagracia, our Patroness. You are our Advocate and to you we recommend our needs. You are our Teacher and like disciples we come to learn from the example of your holy life. You are our Mother, and like children, we come to offer you all of the love of our hearts. Receive, dearest Mother, our offerings and listen attentively to our supplications. Amen.



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JodieLyn
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Posted: June 25 2008 at 6:40pm | IP Logged Quote JodieLyn

I'm not seeing anything that seems to address this in particular.

Do you limit how many children you ask a particular couple to be godparents to??

We've had problems in that many of dh's family are fallen away and I'm a convert and we moved so very often it was hard to make friends.. so we have..

#1 - one of dh's brothers (fallen away now)
#2 - the other of dh's brothers (fallen away now)
#3 - a friend we made singing with a small group choir
#4 and #5 - dh's cousin and wife
#6 and #7 - local couple

For this one we will again choose a local couple.. there's 3 we've considered.. one couple are already the godparents for our #6 and #7..

But would it be too much to ask one couple for 3 kids? or would it be better to ask a different couple? one couple is a bit problematic because they lost a child that was due the same time as ours.. not sure if it would be hurtful or nice to ask them to be godparents to a child that's essentially the same age as the one they lost.

Figuring out the godparents has been the worst of getting each child baptised each time

There is one other option and that's the friend who's godparent to #3.. she's older.. not quite but much closer to our parents' ages..

This makes me    

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MrsM
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Posted: June 25 2008 at 7:39pm | IP Logged Quote MrsM

We were godparents for a couple whose baby was born a month after we had a miscarriage. It was happy/sad, and I'm very glad they asked us. Holding that sweet baby boy helped with my healing.

My dh and I have five godchildren, two are from one family--I wouldn't mind a third, but they are very close friends.

I think I know how you feel--I've had godparent "trouble" myself. And the ones I thought would do the best job have turned out to be the least involved/interested as time goes on.

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Posted: June 25 2008 at 8:37pm | IP Logged Quote Mackfam

Jodie -

One of my children's godparents have fallen away, and it makes me very sad. After that, Rob and I decided to be extremely choosy. So, my saintly brother and sister are godparents to two of our children, and my parents are godparents to another one. If God should bless us with more, it will continue to be my brother and sister. Sticking with the same godparents removes the question for us and the angst.

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JodieLyn
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Posted: June 25 2008 at 8:48pm | IP Logged Quote JodieLyn

Thanks ladies.. Jennifer.. I would be more comfortable with that I think if it was family.. but family is not an option.

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Maddie
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Posted: June 25 2008 at 9:19pm | IP Logged Quote Maddie

We have the same dilemma with each baby too. My first two were baptized before we converted and friends we had at the time were chosen to be GP. They were having some issues in their life and we totally lost contact with them, baby number 3 & 4 ~ no contact~ they went a little Looney Tunes, baby number 5's GP are dear friends but their house burned down a few years back and they have been so busy just getting their life back together, baby 6 has very holy godparents, baby number 7 has a saintly woman as a godparent and my dear brother who has since fallen away , and baby number 8 has the same holy family as number 6. My dear friend of baby number 6 and 8 would be happy to be godparents again as she understands how desperately we want good, holy godparents for our children.

We are godparent to a few babies and I wouldn't hesitate to accepting any more from the families. The godmother of baby number 5 I believe has over 20 godchildren!

If you had any solid Catholic online friends to ask you could always have someone stand in proxy for them if they can't make the baptism. ? Just an idea.

I was hoping to have my oldest two children be godparents someday to a future baby, but we were told it's not allowed. I've heard of other families doing this so next time I'm going to investigate more.

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MaryM
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Posted: June 25 2008 at 9:26pm | IP Logged Quote MaryM

We have that problem with fallen away family, especially on my dh's side. We haven't had to ask godparents as many times yet still have some duplication.

#1 - my brother and dh's sister (both now fallen away)
#2 - my sister and my youngest brother
#3 - my sister and her husband
#4 - couple who are long time friends

so we did double up since my sister is godmother to two. If we were blessed with another I'm pretty sure we would double again as my youngest brother is getting married this fall and he and his wife would be a good choice.

This thread made me think of my parents. They are godparents to 4 children from the same family. The husband of this family was someone my father worked with - they were converts and didn't have much of a Catholic support network. So they always asked my parents for all their children. I know they were happy to do it and are still in touch with them though they are now grown.

In the case of the couple who lost the baby, I would say go ahead and ask prefacing it by acknowledging their sorrow, making it clear that if they felt they couldn't do it, you would understand.

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Martha
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Posted: June 25 2008 at 9:27pm | IP Logged Quote Martha

I think if you have 1 or 2 good Catholic folks, then I'd keep using them....er... well using doesn't sound nice! but you know what I mean.



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Jen L.
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Posted: June 25 2008 at 9:44pm | IP Logged Quote Jen L.

I friend of mine has 5 kids - all have the same godparents! I would have never thought of it myself, but wish I had.

I now think that God's plan for two of my kids' godparents is for their Godchildren to pray for them. I have asked a good friend of mine to make my kids her "adoptive godparents"   

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SuzanneG
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Posted: June 25 2008 at 10:19pm | IP Logged Quote SuzanneG

Martha wrote:
I think if you have 1 or 2 good Catholic folks, then I'd keep using them....er... well using doesn't sound nice! but you know what I mean.



I agree.

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Paula in MN
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Posted: June 26 2008 at 6:17am | IP Logged Quote Paula in MN

Maddie wrote:
I was hoping to have my oldest two children be godparents someday to a future baby, but we were told it's not allowed. I've heard of other families doing this so next time I'm going to investigate more.


I know several families who have done this, and I've never heard that it wasn't allowed. I'd love to hear what your investigation digs up!

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Maria B.
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Posted: June 26 2008 at 7:41am | IP Logged Quote Maria B.

My two older children are godparents to our youngest child. There was no problem.

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Posted: June 26 2008 at 8:43am | IP Logged Quote Taffy

I know very few people who I would consider to be "godparent material" but have a very good single friend who is my "role model" in all matters catholic! She is godmother to ALL my four children. Only my oldest has two and this other person has fallen away...

Luckily, my friend is quite happy to be godmamma to all my kids and I'm sure she will gladly say yes to more. Really cuts down on the stress.

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Posted: June 26 2008 at 10:05am | IP Logged Quote DominaCaeli

My mother-in-law is the sole godparent for our two children so far and will be for our next as well. Most of our family is non-practicing (or not Catholic at all) and we don't really have any Catholic friends that we are close enough to, so she is really our only choice. Thankfully she does not mind.

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Cay Gibson
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Posted: June 26 2008 at 10:40am | IP Logged Quote Cay Gibson

Maria B. wrote:
My two older children are godparents to our youngest child. There was no problem.


Since my oldest two have both confirmed I keep saying at least we know who would be the godparents if we had another. No problem.

I am the godmother to my cousin's three children and for two of my brother's girls. And my dh was asked to be godfather to his brother's two sons.

We always wanted our dc to have their own "special" godparents. But I see the logic in having the same godparents across the board.

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Posted: June 26 2008 at 10:47am | IP Logged Quote ALmom

We have similiar godparent struggles. Most of our dc have the same godparent (my sister and her dh)- except one child. When we were going to choose the same one, the priest asked us to find someone that would be uniquely theirs - so we went with a very, very close friend. I don't think it was a church law or anything and I think he would have allowed us to use the same person again, but we just felt called to follow his advice for some reason. The dh in this family also became my dh sponsor that year. I hesitated to go with friends just because of the potential of losing contact,since I had no contact with my godparents all my years. But, then, right after this baptism, my godparents whom I had never really known ended up moving here. I met one of their children and they shared with me how my picture had been a fixture on their mantle and their parents had prayed for me daily all those years.

We have since gone back to asking my sis and her dh as I hesitate to ask friends, who have plenty of family of their own, to be godparents for numbers of our children.

We are a little open about which way to go and pray hard before choosing. The biggest requirement in our mind is that they are very good, practicing Catholics - the kind of people we could picture raising our children if something happened to us - and picky as I am about that, there aren't tons - not even sure we'd qualify .

Janet
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Posted: June 27 2008 at 6:22am | IP Logged Quote Mary K


Our kids Godparents are:
1. my db and ga (great aunt, who was also my Gm) both still faithful.
2.bil, sil (dh's sibs). she's faithful, he's not now.
3. my brother and sil-both still faithful.
4. another brother and wife. now divorced.
5. good friends. still faithful, but not much contact.
6. bil and wife. both fallen away.
7. very good friends, like family. both very faithful. mom was also dd's confirmation sponsor.
8. have asked db (#1's Gf) and wife to be her Gp's. My dad and stepmom will stand in as proxy since they live in Europe.

Mary-NY
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Posted: June 28 2008 at 11:25am | IP Logged Quote sewcrazy

My children have the same godparents: my BIL and a good friend of mine from when we were in grade school. They are both consecrated celibate single persons, so my children are in many ways their children. It has been nice not to stress about it.

LeeAnn

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Posted: June 30 2008 at 8:04am | IP Logged Quote Becky Le

I am the godmother to my best friend's 2 children and should God bless them with more children I would love to be their godmother too!

I don't think there is anything wrong with asking someone to be a godparent to multiple children. In fact I think it's an honor.
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