I had I question posed:
I’m
in OCIA right now and was assigned a sponsor. I guess I don’t
understand the purpose of the sponsor. Is this a requirement and a
normal part of OCIA?
(Author's note for Non-Catholics: OCIA used to be called RCIA. It stands for the Order of
Christian Initiation of Adults. It got rebranded and retooled a few years back . It is the process in which adults are brought into the Catholic Church. Usually it follows the pattern of an adult catechism class for a school year, with the goal of bringing in someone to join the Church at Easter through baptism or reception. Exceptions can be made, and local churches have quite a bit of discretion in altering the process to fit the needs of the would-be convert. )
My response to the question:
Think
of the role of sponsor or godparent as a form of lay apostolic succession. We often think of this as
only for clergy and bishops being ordained by people who were ordained
by clergy who were ordained by clergy going back all the way to the
apostles. In a way, the sponsor or godparent, while in a lay capacity,
functions in sort of the same way. Someone from shepherded into the
Faith as they were shepherded into the Faith by someone before them and
so on back to the earliest Christians who where themselves brought into
the Faith by the original apostles.
Now
this is not the actual Sacramental bringing into the Faith as with the
baptism or confirmation, but the concept is the same...an unbroken chain
going back to the early Church. These sponsors are there to help guide
you and pray for you. Not just in the OCIA process but for the rest of
your life. The role of sponsor or godparent is not supposed to end once
you get received into the Church. They are supposed to help support you
for the rest of your Christian life. If at some future point you are
down in your faith or having issues, they are supposed to be there to
help you in those times as well. Again, this goes back to Apostolic
times when the first community of saints were helping one another and
living in common like in the Book of Acts.
In
modern times, the role has sadly become ceremonial and a one-and-done
role once the person is received. But this was not always the case. In
Medieval Europe when most people were baptized as infants and the role
was strictly as a godparent and not an adult sponsor, the godparent was
the one that physically named the child-not the biological parent.
Because there is power in the name. So, you chose your godparent
wisely-they literally named your child and in some cases would help fund
the child's later Christian education or vocation.
So, the role is not one to take lightly. It's grounded in the Apostles and the Early Church itself.
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