As an initiation leader, you dream of having an unlimited roster of Spirit-filled parishioners ready and willing to accompany your seekers on their journey of faith as true spiritual companions. You try hard to make that dream happen, and every time you get new seekers, you do your best to find good and faithful people to take on the role of sponsor or godparent. However, when you do find a potential new sponsor and you start describing to them what that means, they either turn you down or they accept your invitation with a quiet fear and panic: What if I don’t know the answers? What if I say the wrong thing and accidentally push them away? Am I holy enough to be a sponsor?

You know in your heart that sponsors aren’t supposed to be junior theologians with all the right answers. They’re not expected to be perfect Catholics, nor are they just ritual chaperones. But they do need to be people of faith who live it in ordinary ways and who can say why their faith matters. You want them to be real disciples walking alongside your seekers in their own struggles and joys—companions who listen more than they talk and disciples who put their words into action.

Most of all, you want sponsors and godparents who believe with their whole heart that the Holy Spirit is already at work in the lives of their companions. And their main job is to witness and recognize it in them, name it as holy, nurture it with gentle guidance from the community, and celebrate it often.