There are very few things in life that Mad Dog and I don't see eye to eye about. Religion happens to be one of them. Wait - I shouldn't say that, it's not that we don't see eye to eye about it, it's that we have different feelings about it.
We were both raised Catholic, and both are not practicing. I don't believe with some of the "rules", statements or act that the Catholic Church have made, but I was raised that way. I wouldn't call myself "Spiritual", in fact I can't stand that description. I find it is usually used to describe someone who can't be bothered with formalized/structure religion. I don't claim to be anything but a person who was raised Catholic. I do believe that my Catholic upbringing did shape who I am in some way, and there is not denying that. If anything it taught me a basic right and wrong, which is honestly a miracle since some people within the Church don't even understand it.
When we had Lex, I honestly never thought we weren't going to Baptize him. It was something that we never really talked about and when we did, we both had very strong feelings about why and why not to do it. Mad Dog was shocked that I would want this, and on top of that would ask my brother, Kevin to be Godfather. Since Kevin is a Gay Man and we all know that the Catholic Church is kind of like the US Army - "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Mad Dog's Daughter, Gabrielle isn't baptized and she is now living in a confused world of being thrown into Church because is suits her Mother's new life. She doesn't understand anything about it and she isn't being taught anything.
My reason for wanting my children baptized are many and some of them even a little foolish (the whole wrath of God type thing). Most importantly I look at it this way, if the child has no religion, then how can they disagree with it. This doesn't mean we are going to all out on Church, which would be total not be us, but I think that giving the kids some kind of reference for religion would be nice. Mad Dog honestly thinks most of this comes from making my Grandmother happy, because honestly there isn't a day that doesn't go by where we know she doesn't think about it. Even with all her memory problems, she oddly remembers that Loki isn't baptized yet.
Because this have been looming over me this past year, I thought we should get going with this. When Mad Dog and I talked about Godparents we both wanted the same things. With Lex we selected my brothers, Sean and Kevin. I thought selecting both of them created a good balance. I think both of them bring different things to Lex's life and make him more well rounded. Most of all they are both good people, with big hearts.
In selecting Loki's Godparents I wanted to pick people who were going to be in our lives for a long time. I didn't want to pick people who were going to walk out of our lives 2 years form now and not be there as Loki grows up. Most people would think we would go back to family, but that was not the case. We don't have a strong connection with either Mad Dog's brother and sister, not his step-sisters. None of them were ever in the running. The person a the top of the list, was my friend Blue. We have known each other since college, and though our lives don't always allow us to see each other we are still close. She has always been a special part of our family. She is a perfect independent role model for Loki, and bring so many different qualities to this role that I think are sometimes lost in the selection of the type of person for a child's life. Our second selection was another important person in my life, and though they felt they couldn't say yes (because their understanding of the role made the offer a little overwhelming) I am still happy they are apart of our life and hope they will become a strong apart of Loki's life. Our main focus was to pick people who are good people at heart, good role models, strong creative people who care about Loki.
Today Mad Dog called the Church I attended where I grew up. The Church asked some basic questions, one being if the Godparents were apart of the their Church, which is no. In fact, I don't even know if Blue is Catholic. They explained that once the Godparents got a "certificate of eligibility" from their church we could schedule the baptism. This has now thrown a monkey wrench into my plan. We hadn't need this for my Brothers, since Sean was apart of the church and Kevin, well Kevin - it was his "family" church. I am honestly rather annoyed with this outcome. I mean I am trying to do what is "right" having Loki baptized. I wanted to select people who weren't just holiday catholics that show up at church to put change in the collection box and pretend to be practicing Catholics. I mean really.
So, here I am. I have to think this through, find a solution. Regardless of the outcome, Blue and the other person who we select as Loki's Godparent will be her "official" Godparents regardless of that the Catholic Church recognizes. But having said that should the Catholic Church rethink their membership sign-up. I mean this isn't Club Med, or a V.I.P club. There is a decline in members in the Roman Catholic Church, so should they really be making it difficult for those wanting to remain within the church? Should they really being telling people sorry we can't help you, you should go somewhere else. If we haven't turned you off from us by our scandals, our lies and corruption we will turn you away with paperwork. Brilliant marketing plan.
