Godparents & religion & Harry's Relatives on fathers side

[catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk]

No: HPFGUIDX 17009

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer <pennylin at s...> 
wrote:
> Actually, one of the Brits might pipe up, but I think godfather (or
> godmother) can also be used as a non-religious term for "legal
> guardian."  It can be used in that sense over here anyway.  Sirius 
makes
> it sound as though he was definitely made Harry's legal guardian (I
> don't have PoA in front of me for the exact language).  But, yes, he
> might have also been christened in a religious ceremony with Sirius
> serving as his "sponsor" (godfather).  There needn't be a godmother 
to
> correspond to Sirius' godfather role.  He could be the sole 
sponsor.  If
> there was a godmother, it's reasonably clear she's dead or Sirius 
would
> likely have mentioned this I think.
> 
> Penny

I'm a Brit, and I'm piping up!  I think that you're basically right.  
Godparents aren't legal guardians, but if they agree to be 
godparents, there is an implication that if something were to happen 
to the actual parents they would take a more active role in the 
child's upbringing - this would often mean taking on legal 
responsibility.  Without getting too nitpicky about it, it would 
normally have to be mentioned in a will etc.  For instance, my aunt 
and uncle were my godparents and had an agreement with my parents 
that they would become guardians if my parents died whilst my brother 
and I were still minors - and this was set out in my parents' will.  
So it's honourary, and can be of practical use as well, (besides the 
extra birthday/Christmas presents one expects of course).

As for the religious side, there does not have to be a Christening, 
nor any specific belief, although I think originally a godparent was 
to take the moral and spiritual development of the child seriously!  
I know one of my friends is a "special person" instead of a 
godparent, as all parties are non religious and didn't want to 
use "god."  I find this a bit on the twee side, but it more or less 
means the same thing.  So it is possible that Harry may not have been 
christened.

It is also traditional (in my family at least) for boys to have two 
godfathers and a godmother, and girls to have two godmothers and a 
godfather.  Why, I do not know - and I don't know if it's common 
practice or something peculiar to my family.

BTW Penny - I meant to post on this earlier, but I totally agreed 
with your posts on literary analysis etc.  My background is a BA in 
English Literature, and I have just finished studying law 
(officially, that is, no one ever stops studying if wanting a career 
in law), so I guess I am straddling the fence here.  However, when at 
college  I really did not enjoy the scientific approach taken by all 
the Leavisite theorists when analysing literature.  It has its place 
of course, but IMHO can be taken too far.  For me, a book has an 
appeal when it is written so subtley that a variety of 
interpretations are possible. One can look at things contextually, 
but I prefer to look at the text alone, and I enjoy the fact that 
with each reading my feelings about the books and the interpretation  
I put on certain scenes can change, either minutely or dramatically.  
I prefer to think that someone like JKR knows her characters so well 
that many of the words she uses (particularly the adverbs which seem 
to cause the most controversy) are a mixture of design, and 
subconsciously knowing what her character is feeling during a 
particular scene.  

I haven't expressed myself very well here, I'm afraid.  Apologies for 
my incoherence!
Catherine