My husband and I want a number of close friends to take a long term interest in our child - in other words, to take on all the responsibilities of a godparent, except for religious education.
Christenings and spiritual kinship were primarily seen as a means of extending and intensifying natural kinship relations in an uncertain world when wider social and family ties were threatened. The religious education of the child was, in those days, its least significant aspect.
Parents would choose people with whom they wished to create a formal state of friendship (just as in rites of blood-brotherhood). Now that the extended family is stretched and scattered, it is even more important to confirm the bonds of friendship. We believe that our celebration has helped us to do this.
Angela Murphy, 21 Leamington Road Villas, London W11 1HS (tel 071 727 4920).
Through any agency or family in the local community, parents can ask someone or two people to act as 'community godparents.' Some ritual celebration can be made of this, for example, with a small party, or even a religious blessing.
Such unofficial relatives could be a blessing to single parents and their children.
Valerie Yule, 57 Waimarie Drive, Mount Waverley, Victoria, Australia 3149 (tel 807 4315).