Baptism class

No, it's not a class where you learn to baptize...it's yet another requirement of our church. Having experienced adult confirmation and my wedding at the same church, I'm used to jumping through hoops. They have a knack for making matters complicated.

Last Monday (8/4) Tony and I attended an hour long class along with about a dozen other couples, and a few fussy babies. I don't blame the babies one bit for crying. It was painfully dull. One of the parish priests used to teach the class, but recently passed the responsibility onto a well-meaning member of the church. I'm sure she's very nice, but public-speaking is not one of her strengths. She read to us in a monotone voice from a written script, pausing not for emphasis, but only to turn the page.

Mostly, she spoke about the importance of baptism, and a little about the ceremony itself. Things got a bit more interesting when she began to cover the requirements for godparents. This was the only part people asked questions about, and instead of livening up the talk, it seemed to just throw her off. If it wasn't in the script, she was lost.

I had done some research on line prior to us choosing the Bean's godparents, and what I had read was that only one godparent needs to Catholic. Technically, you only need one godparent. The other non-Catholic, can serve as a witness. Therefore, I didn't foresee any problem with Glen and Annie. She's Catholic. He's atheist. As it turns out, the witness has to be Christian, and have proof that they've been baptized and are active members of a church, and only certain Christian faiths are "acceptable."

BUT, it's not going to be a problem. Annie will participate in the ceremony with us, and Glen will have the equally important job of videotaping it for us. And while the church may not recognize Glen as a godparent, it will be official to us and the Bean. It's silly really. Glen and Annie were married in the church. He has agreed to raise his own children as Catholics, and he lives a better example than many Catholics I know....and he does so without the fear of God in him...he just does the right thing because that's who he is. He's going to be an awesome godfather.