Celine Dion's four and a half month old twin boys Nelson and Eddy Angelil were baptized in Las Vegas this past Saturday. The occasion is, of course, cause for great celebration. However, there are certain issues in this situation.
1) Babies conceived via IVF
I have written extensively in the past on why in-vitro fertilization is unacceptable in Catholic moral teaching.
2) Irregular number of Godparents
Strangely, Celion Dion decided to violate Church Law, by having 3 Godfathers and 2 Godmothers who all stood for each of the two twins. This is clearly forbidden. In Church Law, a child can only have two Godparents, one from each sex. Technically they must both be Catholic. If one is not Catholic, that one is technically not a Godparent, but rather a witness. It seems odd that the two monsignors shown at the baptism did not say anything about this. My only guess is that only one man and one woman are the actual godparents of each of these babies and that the other one or ones are witnesses.
Underage Godparent
One Godparent is the brother of the twins being baptized. Problem is he is only 10 years old and Canon Law states the godparent must be at least 16 years old. Rare exceptions can be made for extenuating circumstances. But those are not specified in the code. Something tells me, this wasn't a matter of necessity, but of desire of the parents.
A Family Affair
To round out the five Godparents were Celine Dion's husband's two sons Patrick and Jean-Pierre, his daughter Anne-Marie, and Celine's sister, Linda.
On a separate note, I'm not sure what is up with our society in general these days where we cannot seem to make a decision. So often I've seen people getting married and having 2 or 3 best men, and 2 or 3 bridesmaids. Now this tradition seems to be spreading to selection of Godparents.
Celine Dion's sons baptized in Vegas - News - ReviewJournal.com
Lets just be glad that those two children are baptized and now Children of God in the State of Sanctifying Grace.
ReplyDeleteI suggest leaving the judging to God.
Thanks for your comments! You're right, we should be very glad these two children were baptized. It's a wonderful thing. Perhaps my blog post came off a little judgmental.
ReplyDeleteI would like to say though that this blog is partly for educating people about the Catholic faith. It's Catholicism for Everyone because I am presenting the faith to believers and non-believers alike.
I think it is important to talk about the teachings of the Church. They are there for a reason. Perhaps some people are not too familiar with Catholic rules surrounding baptism and this will help clarify.
There are many people in society who strive to be good Catholics. I want to help in that by providing information and sometimes dos and don't.
However, I do not wish to judge anyone, that is certainly up to God. I cannot and will not judge Celine Dion's standing in the eyes of God. However, we can judge whether a particular action is objectively right or wrong. Without the ability to do this, our faith would be meaningless. Jesus condemned adultery, and hatred for example. He didn't say that a particular person was going to hell for certain, but he did warm people about hell. I think properly understood, the command to not judge is a good one. However, it can also be taken too far to say we should not provide any moral guidance on any issue.