Document the Sponsor Needs to Submit

The sponsor needs to submit only 1 document

Please read the requirements before selecting the sponsor.

The Sponsor Letter (see below for a sample letter)

Sponsor Role and Responsibilities

As a Sponsor, you have the honor of being chosen as a witness to the newly confirmed. Through these sacraments, the candidate becomes a Child of God and is strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit, made a true witness of Christ in word and deed, and invited more deeply into the life of the Church. Your most significant role about him/her is to be a role model of such witness and unifying love.

The responsibility of a Sponsor is to help the person who is going to receive Confirmation to lead a good Catholic life. The Sponsor promise to be an example in their life and lead a Christian life that reflects the spirit and teachings of our Catholic Religion

Requirements for Sponsors of Confirmation

This text was taken from the Canon Law of the Catholic Church.
If you want to read it online please click here.

Can.  872 Insofar as possible, a person to be baptized is to be given a sponsor who assists an adult in Christian initiation or together with the parents presents an infant for baptism. A sponsor also helps the baptized person to lead a Christian life in keeping with baptism and to fulfill faithfully the obligations inherent in it.

Can.  873 There is to be only one male sponsor or one female sponsor or one of each.

Can.  874 §1. To be permitted to take on the function of sponsor a person must:

1. be designated by the one to be baptized, by the parents or the person who takes their place, or in their absence by the pastor or minister and have the aptitude and intention of fulfilling this function;
2. have completed the sixteenth year of age, unless the diocesan bishop has established another age, or the pastor or minister has granted an exception for a just cause;
3. be a Catholic who has been confirmed and has already received the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist and who leads a life of faith in keeping with the function to be taken on;
4. not be bound by any canonical penalty legitimately imposed or declared;
5. not be the father or mother of the one to be baptized.

Can.  874 §2. A baptized person who belongs to a non-Catholic ecclesial community is not to participate except together with a Catholic sponsor and then only as a witness of the baptism.

• The sponsor is at least 16 years old.
• He/she has received the sacraments of Baptism, First Communion, and Confirmation. Proof may be asked in the form of sacramental certificates.
• If married, has to be not only civil married but also married by the Catholic Church.
• The sponsor has to lead a life of faith. Regularly attend Sunday Mass and receive Holy Communion and Confession frequently.
• The Sponsor must not be bound by any canonical or church penalty.
• There is to be only one male sponsor or one female sponsor or one of each.
• Any Sponsor, who is unable to attend the baptism/confirmation should have a proxy represent them at the celebration in their place. The name of the Sponsor will appear on the child’s baptismal certificate.

Who cannot be a Sponsor?

• A non-baptized person cannot act as a Sponsor.
• A single person who is not married, but cohabitating with someone is not permitted to serve as a sponsor.
• Cannot be the father or mother of the one to be baptized.
• Sponsor of Baptism: A baptized person who belongs to a non-Catholic ecclesial community is not to participate except together with a Catholic sponsor and then only as a witness to the baptism.
• Sponsor of Confirmation: A baptized person who belongs to a non-Catholic ecclesial community cannot act as a Sponsor of Confirmation.