Identifying Clergy Whose Marriage Ceremonies are Recognized by State

[James Maule]

Excerpts from http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/36966974.html

Bucks judge approves unusual marriages
By Dianna Marder
Inquirer Staff Writer
There was good news yesterday for Jason and Jennifer O'Neill, a Philadelphia couple whose 2005 Bucks County marriage had been thrown into question because they used a minister ordained online. For many other similarly situated couples, too. Bucks County Court Judge C. Theodore Fritsch Jr. declared the marriage valid, even though the minister - Jason O'Neill's uncle, Robert A. Norman - had been ordained in a matter of minutes by the Universal Life Church after completing a short form online.
In the 2007 case that threw the O'Neills' marriage and hundreds of others into question, a York County judge declared a marriage there invalid because the online minister "did not regularly preach in a church or have an actual congregation." But Fritsch ignored the issue of a church building and congregation, ruling instead that the sole question before his court was whether a Universal Life Church (ULC) minister met the Pennsylvania Marriage Act criterion that a minister, priest or rabbi have "a regularly established church."
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But Fritsch's ruling is binding only in Bucks County. "Statewide, thousands of couples will be relieved by this decision, but the threat is not completely absent unless they live in Bucks County," Kaplowitz said.
In the last 10 years, engaged couples, particularly those from different religions like the O'Neills, have increasingly sought to personalize their weddings by having the ceremonies performed by friends ordained online or by non-denominational individuals whose presence would not offend their families' religious practices. That trend drew the ire of some county clerks and registers of wills statewide, who called the practice an affront to the institution of marriage and sought to disqualify so-called online officiants.
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"I guess this means a minister from the Church of the Wineskins, for example - that's another one I've dealt with - would have to prove his church meets at least the same criteria as the ULC," Reilly said. In the last three months, the ACLU has won similar victories in a Montgomery County case involving another ULC minister and in a Philadelphia case involving a Jesuit priest.

Jim Maule
Professor of Law
Villanova University School of Law
maule at law.villanova.edu
http://vls.law.villanova.edu/prof/maule


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