Tuesday, 8 May 2007
Jack Waterford

EMILY POST , I am not. The knife and fork, came late into most of the root systems of my family tree and the scars on the face of some of my ancestors bear witness. Napkins came in first with our bushranging. I am not normally held out to be any model of courtesy, manners or proper behaviour by anyone. But I do claim an expertise of sorts on rules of conduct and relationship for spiritual affinity.

We are talking godparents and such like. The people who stood by your side at baptism. Who, on your behalf, renounced Satan and all of his works and pomps. Who swore, more or less, to stand by your side through life, offering good counsel, help and even the occasional interference, focused on keeping you on the right path.

Even in these godless days and these days without formal baptism, or naming ceremonies as some of the godless call them godparents are not uncommon, for purposes venal as well as spiritual. By any standard they are people, often not strictly relatives, who are designated as special in relation to the children, and in a hoped-for future relationship with them.

A more secular and ruthless Post once told the parents of a child in whom the devils still resided that one should chose a childless person, especially a gay one, and especially a rich one, for godparenthood. Not only was there a better than even chance the person would take his or her duties as spiritual guide and friend seriously, but, with any luck, she or he might leave the child some money. This is what one might call the 19th-century English upper-class model. In that dread period, members of the aristocracy, despite their manifest advantages tended to die earlier than the working class, but would, during their lifetimes, tend to inherit several times, often from relatively remote relatives. It was worth one’s while to cultivate relatives, even remote ones, with whims about who, out of someone in the family, might collect the goodies.

It was not on that account that my parents chose my godparents, though I cannot deny having benefited very materially from them, if not in their will. Win and Stan, one the sister of my maternal grandfather, and the other the brother of my maternal grandmother, married late in life and had no children, but they were selected as my spiritual sentinels on the grounds of my mother’s fondness for them, and (probably) on the open rectitude of their lives (especially Win’s), not in any hope or expectation, as it were, in the life thereafter. Anyway, one of them was my mother’s own godfather, and had been road-tested for avuncular feelings for personal and spiritual welfare, somewhat more difficult given that my mother grew up as one of 12 (among about 50 other nieces and nephews), all reasonably demanding of personal attention.

My mother’s feelings might have changed somewhat when she had her fourth baby in less than four years and her own grandmother suggested she “give” this latest addition to Win and Stan on the basis that they could never, poor things, have children of their own.

Had there been (I am sure there was not) any ambivalence in my mother about possession of and maternal feeling for the new mewing darling, it was more than dispelled by this suggestion, which had, in any event, in no way emanated from the putative adoptive parents.

Be all of that as it may, my godparents, as bossy volunteers rather than with any prompting, paid for a good deal of my boarding-school education at a time when my parents could not have afforded it, and maintained a keen interest in my intellectual and moral development even when, from their own viewpoints, I was beyond redemption. Mercifully, they were, by disposition, greatly inclined to argument as the ordinary means of discourse and counselling, and, since I could argue from somewhat different viewpoints from those with which they were familiar, I had some capacity to entertain them. God rest their souls; I owe them much.

All of us have three types of relatives. Those to whom we are directly related by blood (ie, have common ancestors) are physical affines. Those who are related by the marriage of ourself, or a physical affine, are collateral relatives. My wife’s mother, or my sister-in-law or my father’s brother’s wife are collateral relatives: we have no blood in common, but we are bound by a marriage in our family group. In more traditional times, the nature, and closeness, of that marriage would determine our own relationship, which would be, in effect, as though we were affines. Thus my wife’s sisters’ daughters are my nieces, and I owe to my father’s sister’s husband’s mother much the same sort of respect I would give a grandmother, or at least a great aunt. A good few old notions of incest not least bans on marrying close collateral relatives flow from this idea.

In physical terms, in most societies, aunts and uncles, have some auntlie and avuncular duties in relation to their nieces and nephews in some ways akin to those of parents. Indeed in some societies, including many Aboriginal groups, your father’s brother and your mother’s sister stand in equal relationship to you as your parents, and your father’s sister, and mother’s brother the “proper” aunt and uncle, are, in effect, your godparents, and play the critical role in arranging initiation and marriage.

The difference between an honorary parent and an aunt or uncle is that the former can nag you, as your parent might, remind you of right and wrong and of your duty, and periodically forgive or overlook your trespasses in the hope you have learnt something.

They are fiercely loyal to you and what they believe to be your best interests, but their core interest is the preservation of the group interests of your family.

By contrast, the true uncle or aunt, while recognising these considerations, is your advocate, making sure that all which could be said on your behalf is on the scale before any sort of judgment is made. They give you counsel but they also listen. They are on the one hand more, and on the other, less, forgiving.

A godparent, it might be said, is somewhat similar, if more focused on making sure you remember your moral and religious duties.

Jewish and Christian communities recognise spiritual as well as physical affinity, and treat them much the same. The primary spiritual affinity is through becoming a godparent, though there are some who would argue, in the modern age, the taking of positions of trust over children or those at a disadvantage, creates a position, and a duty, of spiritual affinity. One might suggest, say, that a doctor, a priest, a counsellor, a bank manager or a swimming coach has moral duties to his or her charge, and that abuse of that trust, and putting one’s own personal interests ahead of those duties, is a peculiarly bad moral sin and, often, civil tort or crime.

My son-out-law, organising the christening of his son, recently wanted to know how many godparents you can have. The more the merrier, I say. There was never a religious limit. Royal families have had 12 of either sex. All my children have at least four, and one, as well, has a fairy godfather overlooked at the original time.

Must they be religious, adherent or exemplars of the religious life? No, so long as they actually mean what they promise about being moral and physical lookouts for their godchildren’s spiritual welfare. If you just want to make someone feel special, or loved, or to make them think of your child in their will, go and find another name for the relationship, rather than appropriating another quite different and important one.

Original source:
http://jindabyne.yourguide.com.au/articles/582732.html?src=topstories

Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers January 2, 2008
By Doug Carroll

Paul Martinez came all way from Orange, Calif., for a baby’s baptism.

He got one, too — in the dirty, icy waters of Lake Michigan.

Click here for a photo gallery of the polar plunge in Sheboygan

Click here for a video of the polar plunge in Sheboygan

 ”I scream like a little girl when the hot water goes out in my shower, let alone this,” said Martinez, 36, one of those who heeded the call to jump in the lake Tuesday as part of the annual New Year’s Day Polar Bear Plunge in Sheboygan.

“This is so not normal for me,” he said. “But I’m coming back every year. I’m addicted now.”

The event, which has been staged since 1971, drew a few hundred intrepid souls to North Beach on a sunny, 21-degree day that felt much colder with gusty winds. Many of the participants brought cameras or a support crew to testify to their folly.

“It’s … not … cold … enough!” went the group cheer before Justin Bohn, president of the Polar Bear Club, counted down by bullhorn to the 1 p.m. start.

Most agreed, however, that it was colder than last year’s plunge, when the high temperature was 46 degrees. Many of Tuesday’s participants emerged from the lake with algae plastered to them.

“Maybe we’ve got Milwaukee to thank for that,” said Tom Jens, 56, of Sheboygan Falls, a dairy farmer who was part of the first frigid dip years ago with fewer than a dozen pals from the University of Wisconsin-Sheboygan.

“We’ve had years where we’ve had more ice,” Jens said. “That would have been nicer. If you’re gonna go in, you might as well have it cold, right?”

Veteran “polar bears” grieved the loss of the Sheboygan Armory as the event’s base camp, saying it wasn’t the same to convene at Dave’s Who’s Inn, 835 Indiana Ave., and then drive several blocks to North Beach. The armory, within walking distance of the beach, closed about a year ago.

“At the armory, it was like a polar bear death march,” said Christian Lindau, 18, of Sheboygan, a sixth-year “polar bear.” “It was a big gathering point for a lot of people.”

Dave Repinski, the owner of Dave’s Who’s Inn, said his place became headquarters for before and after parties only within the past week. He said he plans to open the upstairs next year to families with children, which would give the tavern a capacity of 550.

Even with “bears” everywhere, hoisting beers and watching the Wisconsin-Tennessee Outback Bowl football game on TV, it was a mannerly zoo.

“These people are fantastic,” Repinski said. “Everyone has been in good spirits.”

Martinez accompanied his friend Paul Koene to Sheboygan Falls for the baptism of Koene’s 11-month-old daughter, Stella Rae. Koene, 39, who has lived in California for 10 years, extended a polar-bear challenge even though he never had taken the plunge. 

“This morning he had the look of a dead man walking,” Koene said of Martinez. “It’s one of those things that if you do it, you check it off the list.”

Martinez said he called a former high school coach for a pep talk beforehand.

 “Your lungs could collapse in your chest,” Martinez said the coach told him, perhaps intentionally adding fuel to Martinez’s raging fears, which proved completely unfounded.

“Polar bears” who have been around the block say that getting loaded is no longer part of their regimen.

“If we’ve got to drink to go in, then we shouldn’t be going in,” Jens said. “When you go in sober, you come out and warm up real quick.”

 Steve Kovacs, 45, of Sheboygan Falls, has participated since 1984 but this was the first time he wasn’t in costume. Over the years, Kovacs and his friends have dressed as hillbillies, cavemen, sheiks, castaways, gangsters, cannibals and bums. In 1989, with a temperature of 10 below zero, they rented a limousine for 17 hours and partied hard.

 “It became Halloween and New Year’s Eve rolled into one,” Kovacs said of the old days. “Getting older, getting kids and getting busy makes it a lot harder.”

This year, most of his fun came in seeing his wife wade into the water for the first time.

“I had no more excuses,” said Jen Kovacs, 34, who was pregnant for the last two plunges. “I wanted to see what all the craze was about.”

This article was originally posted at:
http://www.thenorthwestern.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080102/OSH/301020047

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) ―When Elisabeth Anne Huls was baptized over the weekend, she wore a white cotton gown that’s been in her family for 124 years.The gown and accompanying petticoat cost $10 for a seamstress to make back in 1883. Agnes Munz, Elisabeth’s great-great-great-grandmother, paid to have the dress made for the first of her four children.

Her investment paid off as 21 children — members of five generations — have worn it. Elisabeth, who was born Oct. 18, was the second in the fifth generation to wear the gown.

Marcia Huls, Elisabeth’s grandmother, said she expects the gown to be worn for future baptisms. Through the years, mother-of-pearl buttons on the back of it have remained intact, along with drawn thread work and embroidery.

Huls, who also wore the dress for her baptism, has cared for the dress for the past 15 years. It is washed before the ceremony, put on minutes beforehand and put away after the photos, she said.

[Episcopal News Service] A historic ecumenical agreement mutually recognizing the sacrament of Baptism was signed by the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil, the Roman Catholic Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Presbyterian United Church and the Syrian Orthodox Church during a November 15 celebration at the Mosteiro de São Bento in São Paulo, Brazil. More than 400 people attended the celebration.The agreement was the result of several years of dialogue between the five Christian denominations through the National Council of Christian Churches (CONIC).

In the document, the churches agree that “the Baptism instituted by Christ is fundamentally a free gift of God,” and “accept the Baptism as basic link of the unity that is given by the faith in the same Lord.”

The churches have agreed that “re-baptism” is not necessary when a Christian changes affiliation from one church to another.

“This mutual recognition was well received in ecumenical circles, especially within the World Council of Churches,” said the Rev. Canon Francisco de Assis da Silva, provincial secretary of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil. “This is the first time that the mutual acceptance of Baptism has been instituted by a multilateral agreement, including the Roman Catholic Church.”

The document was signed by

The Rt. Rev. Geraldo Lyrio (Roman Catholic Church)
The Most Rev. Mauricio Andrade (Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil)
Pastor President Walter Altmann (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil),
Pastor Moderator Manoel de Souza Miranda (Presbyterian United Church of Brazil)
Mons. Antônio Nakkoudda (Sirian Orthodox Antioch Church).

Original source:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_92100_ENG_HTM.htm

By Katya Cengel, The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal

RHODA, KY - Ten minutes from the tiny town of Smiths Grove, Ky., past the fields and the Jet Stop convenience store, is a little community called Rhoda.

Not a lot goes on here, but on warm Sundays between noon and 3 p.m., one of its otherwise empty roads is often lined with parked cars. Below the road, by Beaver Dam Creek, families dressed in their Sunday best gather under the shade of oak and hickory trees.

They have been coming for generations from as far as Bowling Green, Ky., 20 miles to the southwest. Robbie Cooper’s great-grandfather, grandfather and mother came here. Now Robbie, 11, is here, waiting to be baptized.

Trial by water

While other children splash in the shallow water on the top of the concrete dam, Robbie stands to the side clutching a white handkerchief. In a few minutes he will use the handkerchief to cover his mouth as his grandfather and namesake, Robert Carter, dunks him in the water.

The handkerchief is Carter’s, who says he remembers the day he was baptized here 36 years ago. At age 22, he says, it was a new experience, “something I’d never felt before.” Robbie’s mother, Anna Sanders, was also baptized here when she was 11.

His grandmother, Alice Carter, remembers her father baptizing people in the creek before it was dammed, before pews, a pulpit and a changing room were constructed in 1964, creating the Beaver Dam Creek Baptizing Center.

River baptism, Alice Carter says, is simply “our belief.”

It is a belief they know is waning as churches that practice baptism by immersion increasingly turn to the more convenient, less polluted and safer indoor baptismal fonts.

But at Kyrock United Baptist Church in Edmonson County, Ky., where family members belong and where Robert Carter used to preach, “we’re trying to hold on to what we believe and what we know,” she says.

What they know is that Jesus was baptized outdoors in the Jordan River. To go inside for baptism would not be following the Bible, says Bill Leonard, professor of church history and dean of the Divinity School at Wake Forest University.

For the Baptist, Pentecostal and Reformationist congregations who mainly practice outdoor baptism, he says, it symbolizes burying the old life and resurrecting a new one. “Living” or running water is often viewed as an essential part of the ritual because it signifies new life, Leonard says.

For Robert Carter, the reason is simpler: “You want to stay with what you know is real.”

Keep reading →

Here’s an outline of the process for making the proper arrangements at Old Mission San Juan Baustista in San Juan Baustista, CA.  Again — this is specific to just this specific church — but, is provided as a guide to help educate you as to other practices and requirements that you might want to be aware of or be able to ask your church about.

Baptism (For Registered Parishioners):

• Submit completed “Baptism Inquiry” form.
• Parents must attend pre-baptism class. Date of class will be scheduled upon receipt of completed “Baptism Inquiry” form.
• Godparent(s)* must take pre-baptism class at their local parish, or with parents in San Juan Bautista.
  • Bring Mission San Juan Bautista a letter from their parish indicating that they have completed the class(es). Make sure their name(s) appear in the letter.

       *It is important that Godparents meet the following criteria:
         1. Over 16 years of age
         2. Confirmed and Practicing Catholics
         3. If married, must be married through the Catholic Church  

Download the Godparent Eligibility Certificate for more information.
(you will need Acrobat Reader in order to view this form) 

• Copy of child’s birth certificate.
• $25.00 donation

Baptism (For Non-Parishioners):

• Obtain a “Letter of Permission” from your local parish to baptize your child outside your local parish, and your parish priest also agrees to travel to San Juan Bautista to perform the ceremony.
• Parents must attend pre-baptism class at their local parish.
• Bring Old Mission San Juan Bautista a letter from your parish indicating that you both have completed the class(es). Make sure both of your names are in the letter.
• Godparent(s)* must take pre-baptism class at their local parish, or with parents in San Juan Bautista.
  • Bring Mission San Juan Bautista a letter from their parish indicating that they have completed the class(es). Make sure their name(s) appear in the letter.

       *It is important that Godparents meet the following criteria:
         1. Over 16 years of age
         2. Confirmed and Practicing Catholics
         3. If married, must be married through the Catholic Church   

Download the Godparent Eligibility Certificate for more information.
(you will need Acrobat Reader in order to view this form)

• Copy of child’s birth certificate.
• $25.00 donation

 Mission San Juan Bautista will schedule the baptism for the month following completion of pre-baptism instruction, and receipt of all documentation and the donation. For example, if class is completed and paperwork and donation are received in March, the baptism will be scheduled for sometime in April.

 Pre-Baptism Classes are held on the second Saturday (9 am) of the month in English and the second Tuesday (6 pm) of the month in Spanish by appointment only. Please call the Parish Office (831-623-2127) to register for a pre-baptism class.

original source:
http://www.oldmissionsjb.org/baptism.html

Baptism was performed by totally immersing the convert, in water — typically in a stream, river or lake. Baptism of a new Christian was a major watershed in their life. Many individuals are described in the Christian Scriptures (New Testament) who heard the Gospel, were immediately converted and quickly baptized.

There are dozens of passages in the Christian Scriptures that mention baptism. Although some verses appear conflict with others, a general picture emerges:

-          Infants and children were not baptized. Baptisms were performed on youths or adults — individuals who had reached the age of accountability — who had already converted to Christianity, and accepted Jesus as Lord.

-          Baptisms were generally done in the name of Jesus only, not in the names of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

-          The Holy Spirit was believed to enter and dwell within each person after baptism, (assuming that He was not already in place before the ritual).

-          Baptism was regenerative. That is, the person’s sins were wiped clean by the ritual itself.

-          In biblical passages that describe baptism, the author often implied that the ritual was necessary in order for a person to be saved and enter Heaven after death. But elsewhere in the Christian Scriptures, other criteria for salvation are implied: good works, belief in Jesus as the Son of God, belief in Jesus’ Resurrection, etc.

Although Jesus’ disciples frequently baptized converts, it is not clear whether Jesus himself performed baptisms. The Bible is ambiguous on this point.

original source:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_bapt.htm

TRADITIONS & FAMILY HEIRLOOMS CONTINUE TO REMAIN IMPORTANT

By Stephen White 08/09/2007

Baby Jessica Power will be wrapped in 143 years of history when she becomes the 32nd relative to wear the same christening gown.

The seven-month-old will be baptised in the dress made by cotton mill worker Eleanor Thornber in 1864 for her first child Isabel.

It’s been passed down the generations and every baby christened since has had their name embroidered in the underskirt.

On Tuesday we told how Charlotte Middleton, 27, of Paddock Wood, Kent, became the sixth bride to wear the same dress, brought from the US, and passed down her family for 97 years.

Yesterday Jessica’s mum Claire Power, 35, said: “I am so proud that Jessica will wear it. I think it’s wonderful that a dress so old can be in such good condition and still used in this era.” Jessica’s dad Jason, 33, wore the broderie anglaise frock at his baptism in 1973 and his mum at hers in 1943.But Claire fears Jessica, who will be baptised later this month at Darwen, Lancs, might ruin it.

She said: “She is sick so many times, I’m worried about it going on the dress and, because babies have got bigger these days, I’m a bit worried it’s going to be gaping at the back!”

Original Article was posted at:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2007/09/08/baby-baptised-in-143yr-old-dress-89520-19753191/

CUSTOM FOCUSES ON COMPANIONSHIP

Sunday, September 9, 2007

By Vivi Hoang
The Tennessean

What started out more than 1,500 years ago as a simple task — presenting a child for baptism — has become a revered but blurry mix of religious and secular duty.

What does a godparent do? In most cases, whatever they, and their godchild’s parents, think best. The role may be centuries old, but it’s far from anachronistic. People customize everything from their rides to their ring tones to suit their tastes these days, and how they treat godparenting is no different, keeping the lifelong position going strong and its prospects healthy.

“It’s this resilient, tenacious tradition that has lost its past,” said Lisa Kimball, a lecturer with the University of Minnesota who studies godparenting. “It’s lost its connection back to its history. What is its role today? People are inventing it.”

Modern-day godparenting

The custom has survived the ages but evolved into one fraught with inconsistency.

“There’s a sense of familiarity and honor,” said Kimball, an Episcopalian and godmother to an astounding 13 godchildren. “But at the same time, there’s an absent discourse. It’s very public when it gets started and it drifts into privacy, so it may or may not be sustained. There’s often either a deep connection or pained distance. That’s the paradox.”

So what is the role of the modern-day godparent?

People are fashioning it as a quilt of institutional knowledge, tradition and social expectation, Kimball said. The role has largely developed into one of companionship and mentoring, not always with a spiritual component.

“Godparents are there for their friends’ children to talk or give advice when they don’t or can’t talk with their parents,” said 45-year-old Regina Hambrick of Nashville, Tenn., who’s been by her godson’s side since his birth. “My godchild Michael is now 21 years old, and we are still close.”

Patsy Sermersheim’s best friend, Donna Hazlett, chose her to be the godmother to her first son because she felt Sermersheim could best tell her son who she was if something happened to her.

Sermersheim, 46, sadly found herself having to carry out Hazlett’s wishes when Hazlett was killed in a car accident seven years ago at the age of 38.

“I wrote him a very long letter all about who his mom had been and how she had grown and changed,” said Sermersheim.

While it’s typical for godparents to feel honored to take on such a role, parents Ashley and Michael Jaeger, whose son Elijah was baptized recently at St. Edward Church in Nashville, felt honored when their chosen godparents accepted.

“You actually handpicked and chose these people to do this for you, and you’re so grateful they accepted and they want to be there and want to be part of your life and your child’s life,” Ashley Jaeger said.

John and Jana Blackwell of Smyrna, Tenn., godparents to two unrelated girls ages 5 and 13, characterize their job description as gift-givers, boo-boo fixers and book-readers. Those seemingly ordinary tasks will change as the girls age, but the crux of what they do remains the same, 40-year-old Jana Blackwell said.

“We are there because the parents that created them knew that, at all times, there needed to be people that represented faith and love in a family of God that knows no bloodlines,” she said.

Spiritual role models

The Christian godparenting tradition developed out of the Catholic church, which to this day has very specific rules that govern it. A godparent’s job is two-fold: to present the person being baptized and see to the child’s spiritual upbringing.

Whoever the parents choose must be at least 16 and Catholic, said the Very Rev. David Perkin, vicar general of the Catholic Diocese of Nashville.

“In this part of the South where it’s predominantly non-Catholic, many times parents of a child to be baptized represent two different Christian denominations,” Perkin said. “The Catholic church law requires there be at least one Catholic godparent … at least one, and preferably two.”

If there are two, the pair must be a man and a woman, he adds.

For Franchatta Howard of Nashville, the choice was clear. She picked her cousin Tracy Coleman and Coleman’s husband, John, as godparents to her two sons, who are now 2 and 4.

Howard said she considered several couples but settled on the Colemans because they have similar upbringings and values, are spiritually grounded and good role models.

“It’s a good support system,” 29-year-old Howard said. “I know that if (my sons) need something and I’m not readily available, I have two dependable people that can step in and make conscious, sound decisions.”

Article was originally published at: