Jan. 2, 2009 Judge upholds marriage by online minister, Doylestown (AP) A Bucks County judge has upheld the legality of a marriage performed by a Universal Life Church minister, the latest ruling on whether marriages performed by clergy without a regular congregation are valid under Pennsylvania Law. Bucks County Judge C. Theodore Fritsch Jr. declared the 2005 marriage of Jason and Jennifer O'Neill valid, even though the minister- the groom's uncle- had been ordained in a matter of minutes after completing a short Universal Life form online. The test case is one of at least three filed across the state by the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union to clarify the type of clergy recognized under the Pennsylvania Marriage Act. A York County judge ruled last year that a minister must have a regular congregation or houseworship and and that marriages performed by anyone else was invalid. That case also included a Universal Life Minister. Fritsch's ruling is binding only in Bucks County, although the ACLU has won similar victories in recent months in Montgomery and Philadelphia
