What is a Confirmation Sponsor? The Confirmation sponsor is a living witness to Christ through their active participation in the sacramental life, worship, prayer, devotion, and works of mercy of the Church. Sponsors live a moral life in accordance with the teachings of Christ and His Church. In these ways, a sponsor demonstrates a life guided by the Holy Spirit, which each Catholic receives at their Confirmation.
Just as, at Baptism, a godparent takes upon themselves the responsibility of aiding in the godchild's growth in Christian faith, offering their own faith life as an example, the Confirmation sponsor continues that work for the confirmandi.
What do confirmation sponsors do? Sponsors should be committed to playing an active role in their confirmandi's life, through both accompaniment and prayer. A sponsor's prayers for their confirmandi are especially efficacious before God. The Sacrament of Confirmation also creates and strengthens a spiritual bond between the confirmandi and the sponsor. In agreeing to serve as a Confirmation sponsor, your "yes" is not only to the candidate, but also to a vocation from God to do His will in this capacity. What does the Church require for Confirmation sponsors? A sponsor is an example of their own faith lived out, guided by the Holy Spirit as received in their own Confirmation. Canon law (or the law of the Church) requires the following:
A sponsor must be someone other than the parent of the candidate.
A sponsor must have received the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Eucharist.
A sponsor must be at least 16 years of age.
A sponsor must be leading a life in harmony with the faith; if married, must be married in the Church, and if single, must be living a chaste life.
A sponsor must be a practicing Catholic, registered in a parish, who regularly attends Mass on Sundays and Holy Days and receives the Holy Eucharist.
Please note that, although Confirmation candidates sometimes choose their Baptismal godparents to serve in the Confirmation sponsor role, this is not a requirement. A Confirmation sponsor can be any Catholic in good standing who meets the above requirements, and must not necessarily be a candidate's godparent,
Children enrolled in Confirmation preparation at Resurrection will receive additional information about sponsors during our meeting sessions.