Veritatis Gaudium: Multidisciplinary Journal of Postgraduate Studies

This article looks at the ministry of sponsors and godparents in Baptism and Confirmation, and of marriage sponsors in Matrimony, against the backdrop of African Catholic life. It starts from two scenes every parish will recognise: a child or young person presented for initiation with godparents who look the part on the day but barely stay in touch with the recipient's faith journey afterward, and a bride and groom surrounded by best men, chief bridesmaids, "chairmen," and "chief launchers" who carry the wedding but disappear the moment the reception ends, leaving the couple with no churchly companion through the shaky early years of marriage. Across all three sacraments, the same thing keeps happening: sponsorship shrinks from a ministry of accompaniment into a piece of theatre. Drawing on canon law, the Catechism, Amoris Laetitia, scriptural models of accompaniment, and African communal anthropology, including the customary offices of go-between and witness among the Igala and Igbo, the article argues that baptismal, confirmational, and marital sponsorship are really one ecclesial vocation of witness, mentoring, and staying power. It proposes bringing sponsorship back to life through catechesis, more careful discernment, parish structures of accompaniment, and an inculturated spirituality of ecclesial kinship that runs the whole sacramental distance, from font to nuptial altar.

Open Full Text (PDF)