Sunday, November 27, 2005
*.* Godma or God-daughter: who is who? *.*
I attended a Confirmation mass last week. I was supposed to be a proxy godparent as my friend's friend's godma couldn't make it. So as my friend knew that I was attending her Confirmation, she asked me whether I mind standing in for her friend's god ma. Of course, I accepted.And I had the privilege of sitting in the 2nd row. Good view to the mass proceedings.Next to me was an empty seat. Infront of the empty seat was a neophyte getting confirmed. Poor girl. Her godma was not here yet. I observed that there were some attempts to contact her god ma so I guessed her godma should be on her way here.But mass started. Opening hymn, act of contrition, gloria, opening prayer, first reading, second reading and.... heng ah... the godma came!And Confirmation went on as usual, with the Archbishop anointing the confirmants with chrism oil.But what was really strange was this... After a long while, the godma who came late realized that there was still a whole string of confirmants waiting to be anointed. (Cos it is an adult cum youth catechism Confimration). So I overheard the following conversation which took place between god ma and god daughter:God ma : ..... my car... parked...at an inconvenient place... dunno if..... cause other cars...God daughter: Hah then how?God ma: Then I dun take communion lor... or I leave straight after communion.(Here, there's a slight interruption cos the godma talked to this "godma":)Godma: After this whole thing, got any more duties for godmothers?Me: Got... we got lifetime duty to look after our god children.Godma: But I mean, after this whole Confirmation, must we come down for anything?Me: Dun have lah but our role as godma is always lifetime.(Note: I emphasized LIFETIME.)And the conversation continued on:God daughter: But have you received communion this weekend?Godma: Yesterday I went for sunset mass. Came late. Sat right behind and I didn't receive.God daughter: But you MUST receive communion otherwise must go for confession.Godma (deliberating, looking at the endless stream of confirmants): Aiyah... I think I cannot wait already. I'm going off. I will just pray to God and ask Him for His forgiveness. God is loving and forgiving. He will understand.So God ma went to pray and after that bid her farewell to her god daughter.My heart went out for the god daughter. I think there is a something wrong working with our Catholic Church.Firstly, when is the issue about "must receive communion once this week" to be exempted from confession? MASS is something compulsory. As long as you attend once in a week, you have fulfiled that obligation. And MASS is from the BEGINNING where the priest proceeds in till the END where the priest gives us his final blessings. Secondly, are the roles of godma clearly outlined to the catechumens when they were making their choices of godparents? And are these roles related back to the chosen god parents? There has to be clear understanding that the godparent has to guide the godchild in faith, not the other way round.I guess the bottomline is, most godparent-godchild relationships end after Confirmation. But there has to be something to keep the relationship going. It can either be from the godparent or godchild or perhaps, some church program that keeps this relationship going.And the other bottom line is, pls make a clear discernment in deciding your godparent.
A Child of God blogged @ | 1:29 am
