OK. I'm pretty sure that this is a practice all over the country, not limited to our parish, but parents here have been permitted to have non-Catholics serve as "witnesses" to their children's baptisms. They can't be godparents, but they can witness the Baptism. It's a distinction we make, but it's not something the parents really get, as evidenced by the conversation I just had.

Mom wanted to know if her son's "godfather" can be his Confirmation sponsor if he's not Catholic. "No. The role of a sponsor is to model what it is to be a Catholic adult for your son, and he can't do that since he's not Catholic." "But I don't understand. He [the "witness"] was allowed to baptize [emphasis mine] him, why can't he be his sponsor?" Yes. She thinks the guy baptized her kid. "Well, he is considered a witness to your son's baptism, but he didn't baptize him. And the Church doesn't consider him a godfather because he's not Catholic. A godfather's responsibility is to help you raise your son Catholic and since the witness isn't Catholic, he can't help you do that."

Why is it I even have to have this conversation?????