Catholic, in my case.
My godmother was my father’s sister. She had a lot to do with me as a teenager, but nothing to do religiously, or as a replacement for my (living) parents.
My godfather I never saw again after the day I was baptized. My parents mentioned to me a year or two ago that he had died recently.
I’ve got to say, despite my love for my Aunt, I’ve never felt like my godparents had anything meaningful to do with my life. How do you feel about your godparents?
My godmother (my dad’s sister) was my favorite aunt (in fact, she was everyone’s favorite aunt!) I remember that she’d take me out shopping on my birthday to get me something special. I still have some of the jewelry she gave me when I was little (like the birthstone ring, even though it only fits on my pinky). Unfortunately, she died when I was eleven. I still miss her dearly.
My godfather, (my mom’s brother) on the other hand, is an ass. When I was a kid he and my aunt were pretty cool, since they always got me really kickass presents, but we were never that close, since they lived far away. Nowadays? Well, let’s just say he can go fuck himself with a cactus.
Catholic family
Godmother = one of Mom’s younger sisters. Always in contact, still alive & just is special in both good & bad ways. We took it serious, her & I but not all God Parents did even in my immediate family.
Godfather was my Dad’s Dad. That Grandpa died when I was about 13. Before that he did some special stuff for me.
Never lived near enough to them to have a lot of personal face to face time.
I think the basic idea is that your godparents are supposed to be a spiritual Plan B. The assumption is that your parents will raise you to be a good Catholic. But if your parents are killed by Satan then your godparents have pledged to step in and do the job of making sure you go to church.
I’m not sure what the doctrine is if your parents are alive and they decide to leave the church. Are your godparents supposed to sneak you off to mass and get you confirmed?
Even tho both sides of the family were firmly entrenched in Baltimore, I was born in San Diego (Dad was in the Marines) and my godparents were friends my folks had in that area. I got the occasional gift or card from them over the years, and I finally met my godmother when I was in my 20s and stationed in San Diego myself. My godfather had died some years before. She and I spent the day together, then she went back to 29 Palms, where she’d been living for some time, and I never saw her again. I have no idea if she’s even alive now - she’d be in her 80s, I guess.
So, no, they were pretty much like imaginary friends to me. My sibs’ godparents were mostly relatives in the Baltimore area, and apart from one aunt who spoiled one sister, there was little interaction.
My brother is my nephew’s godfather - he gave him a car!! A Lexus no less! OK, it was an older hand-me-down, but damn!! No wonder said nephew thinks the world owes him everything…
My godparents (RC) left the Church before I really knew what godparents were. So, pretty much “Nope.”
Nope. I have no idea who my Godfather is.
And I know I am Godfather to a child on Thursday Island who I have not seen or heard of for30 years.
Lutheran. Their names were on a piece of paper that had something to do with my christening. That was the last time they had anything to do with me or my family. I’ve never met them, never seen a picture of them, and don’t remember their names.
In my family it is almost always family members who are the godparents.
One of my fathers sisters is my godmother and one of his brothers was my godfather. I was a little bit closer to them than to the other aunts and uncles. I am the godmother to one of my younger cousins and one niece. I am just a little bit closer to that cousin than to her sisters but my nieces are equal.
In my family we (used to) pick names for the Christmas exchange (now so many have passed on we don’t even have a family Christmas party anymore). We also bought gifts for our godparents and godchildren. My niece who is my goddaughter still gets two gifts from me for Christmas and her birthday, one for being my niece and one for being my goddaughter.
I was supposed to have godparents, my mother’s younger sister and my father’s younger brother. But, the priest wouldn’t baptize me for…reasons…I like to think he just knew it was a lost cause. ANYWAY, my aunt hasn’t been seen in 20 years and my uncle treats me the same as he treats my brother and we see each other on holidays.
However, my dad ended up godfather to my uncle’s daughter, and he gives her extra presents on birthdays and Christmas (even now that she’s 22 years old), so I guess I’m a little jealous that I never got an actual godparent. Even though my nuclear family are all atheists.
My godmother is my mom’s best friend.
She and my mom were both going to Lutheran church when I was baptised a Lutheran, even though the two of them were raised Catholic. They both go to Catholic church together now.
She sends me a card every year on my birthday, which is nice because I don’t get too many. I see her when I see her. She introduces me as “my goddaughter” and I introduce her as “my godmother.”
It probably makes my mom happy that I have a special bond with her best friend. She’s a good lady, I like her a lot.
I wish I could be a godmother but my friends and family are either all Catholic or atheist :-/
I fell away from the (Catholic) church at an early age, so godparents were never a big deal to me personally. They’re big in my family, though. My mother stood godmother to one of her cousin’s daughters, and that woman was always close to her, even visiting her at her nursing home after my mother was stricken with Alzheimer’s. It was rather touching, actually.
My godfather was both a cATHOLIC PRIEST AND my father’s brother. My uncle was ALWAYS a big part of my life, and became a bigger part after my father died. He tried very hard to be a substitute father for my brothers and me. He took the job of godfather very seriously, from the day I was born until the day he died.
My godmother, on the other hand, was an old school friend of my mother. She moved far away from New York shortly after my baptism, and I only remember meeting her ONCE in my entire life. She never gave me a second thought, apparently, and vice versa.
Mine were Abuelito (my paternal grandfather, who died when I was 3 months short of 4 years old) and Yaya, the granny I still have. She’s a folkloric Catholic and not even much of one: the one day in the year that she absolutely has to set foot in a church is St Lucy, that being her patron saint as a seamstress/tailor/modiste (after a conversation here I’m not sure what should I call her any more, she designed but usually worked alone).
Religiously speaking he’s been more of an influence in my life than she has, even secondhand. Yaya, I don’t think she even remembers that I’m supposed to be her goddaughter. I’m “the other granddaughter” despite having been born first…
I’m my nephew’s godmother; my youngest brother is our niece’s. My co-godparent is my sister-in-law’s brother, Uncle Iggy, about as religious as a cactus and not my favorite person in the world; my brother’s co-godmother is MIA, as she was Iggy’s girlfriend and broke up with him a few weeks after the baptism. Both my brother and I take it seriously both as a religious and social obligation; there have been times I’ve taken the Proud Father to task and the first time I did, I reminded him that if he didn’t want my opinion on his childraising he could have chosen a different godmother. Haven’t needed to remind him again.
My godmother is my mom’s best friend from college. She sends me presents on holidays and things like jams and other homey things on a regular basis. I make infrequent trips to Chicago to see her and she makes an annual trip to MN for the college alumni summer get-together and I spend some time with her.
My godfather is my paternal uncle. When I was younger, every family visit contained a private half hour talk about my spiritual behavior. Now that I’m an adult and not RCC anymore, we chat off and on about ethics and morality but not necessarily in a catholic framework.
I have no idea who my Godparents are.
My godparents were a couple, the husband of whom was an old roommate of my father’s back when when he was a bachelor in the Western state where I was born. Then eventually we moved to Arkansas and Texas, and they moved to Iowa, and while they and my parents kept in touch, I personally have never had any contact with them again since being baptized.
Oh, and we’re Catholic, FWIW. Forgot to mention that.
We most definitely were not Catholic.
I said I’d had no contact with my godparents since I was baptized, but probably I had contact up until I was two years old, which was when we moved to Arkansas. I just don’t remember them at all.
My godparents are my half-siblings, so they’re still close to me. Interestingly, a couple of years ago I asked my bro if he had any other godchildren. My brother asked “I have a godchild?” before I looked at him and he replied “D’oh! Yes, I remember now how annoying you were at your baptism!”. My sister remembers. Both my sister and I are godmothers of our nephews, she of the oldest, and I of the youngest. I wish I could see them more often, as they’re precious.