Confirmation Sponsor Information

When you are confirmed, you will be presented to Bishop by your Sponsor. The Sponsor represents the Catholic community and, by presenting you to Bishop, in effect testifies that you are ready to be confirmed. Because of this, your Sponsor MUST be an already practicing Catholic. The Sponsor is so important, in fact, that the laws of the Church (that is, Canon Law) says this about Confirmation Sponsors:

 - "The sponsor is to take care that the confirmed person behaves as a true witness of Christ and faithfully fulfills the obligations inherent in this sacrament" (Canon 892);

 - "To perform the function of sponsor, a person must fulfill the conditions mentioned in can. 874 (that is, "To be permitted to take on the function of sponsor a person must:

1. 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; and

4. not be bound by any canonical penalty legitimately imposed or declared"); and

 - "It is desirable [though, not necessary] to choose as sponsor the one who undertook the same function in baptism" (Canon 893.1 and 893.2).

 Additionally, the Confirmation Sponsor should him-or-herself be living "confirmed life;" that is, the life of a practicing Catholic.