Your internet wedding minister: will it be legal?

January 3, 9:24 PMWedding and Marriage ExaminerElizabeth Oakes

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WhiteRussian Orthodox: Church of the Latter-Day Dude
                             (art by Colin Cotterill)

This week in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, due to a lawsuit pressed by the ACLU on behalf of Jennifer and Jason O’Neill (a couple married by an internet minister) a judge overturned a court decision invalidating the couple’s marriage.  According to Pennnsylvania state law, anyone who solemnizes a marriage must have a regular congregation; the ACLU’s suit claimed that this criterion would not only prohibit internet ministers from performing wedding ceremonies, but also other ordained clergy such as Hillel rabbis, Jesuit priests who are university professors, or hospital chaplains. The court agreed and restored the O'Neill's married status, though several other similar couples in Bucks County apparently remarried out of fear their weddings were not legally binding.

This new ruling allowing internet ministers weddings will only be in effect for Bucks County; the decision may make other counties (and states) sit up and take notice of its policies concerning non-conventionally-ordained ministers however.

It should make you sit up and take notice, too, especially if you plan to have a friend or relative ordained online so they can perform your wedding. Although I agree that having your ceremony conducted by someone who loves you and cares about you is a wonderful way to get married, it’s also important to make sure your chosen officiant is legally empowered to sign your marriage license.

By far the largest and most famous of the “internet ordination” organizations is the Universal Life Church.  One often still hears people sneer about “internet ministers,” but most of them don’t know that the ULC was validated as a religious organization by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1974 and it has been going strong ever since.  I happen to be a fan of the Universal Life Church because it is so simple and subversive; it forces thought about what we really mean by the terms “religious freedom” and “religious authority."  ULC doctrine avers that everyone is already ordained and they merely "confirm" this status; their open polices allow those who wish to perform ministerial work to do so without organizational interference.

This doesn’t mean your ULC-ordained friend will be free from government or bureaucratic interference however, and this is the sticking point.  According to this article in Divorce Law Journal, only certain counties in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina still prohibit nonconventional clergy from legally solemnizing a marriage.  However, other states and counties--though technically allowing internet ordained ministers to perform weddings--have created additional hurdles for them: requirements for registration or letters of authorization from a church organization, for example.  Fulfilling such requirements can take time, so investigate early on in your planning process by contacting the marriage license authorities in the county where your wedding is taking place and making sure everything’s legally hunky-dory before your wedding day.

If you have any fears about your friend/family officiant's legal credential, the easy fix is to get civilly married ahead of your wedding day.   Lots of couples do this anyway for many reasons (including the ability to buy football tickets, apparently--who knew?)

Once you’re legal, you’re then free to have anyone you choose conduct your community celebration without worry.  They don’t even need to be ordained in order to do so, since they won’t be signing off on any legal authorization of the marriage.  That will be less of a non-conventional worry for them, too.

Until next time, and sweet and long life to you all.

Elizabeth Oakes welcomes your feedback and nonconventional ordinations at weddingexaminer@gmail.com. 

She's also happy to answer your questions about getting married in Los Angeles; you can check out her work and inquire about availability at MarriageToGo.Com.