Has Any One From Canada Performed A Wedding In Pennsylvania?


*Love*
 Share

Recommended Posts

I am sorry, I am new here. What's going on with ULC & the courts?

Basically as I understand it, Pennsylvania requires an ordained minister to have a "regular congregation" prior to being allowed to perform marriages. The issue with the ACLU is that if someone is an ordained minister, he/she may not have a "regular congregation" but that this requirement discriminates against ministers who provide ministerial assistance to the military services, teaching ministers, etc. who may not be allowed to marry people then. At least this is how I understnad it based on the information I read. As the ULC does not require an ordained minister to have a "regular congrgation", this means that an ordained ULC minister may not be allowed to perform marriage in Pennsylvania.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Basically as I understand it, Pennsylvania requires an ordained minister to have a "regular congregation" prior to being allowed to perform marriages. The issue with the ACLU is that if someone is an ordained minister, he/she may not have a "regular congregation" but that this requirement discriminates against ministers who provide ministerial assistance to the military services, teaching ministers, etc. who may not be allowed to marry people then. At least this is how I understnad it based on the information I read. As the ULC does not require an ordained minister to have a "regular congrgation", this means that an ordained ULC minister may not be allowed to perform marriage in Pennsylvania.

Actually, their law requires the minister to be associated with a "regularly established church". Not to have a congregation. That is why Bucks found for the couple. ULC is a "regularly established church". I think this one is all over but the crying.. But, law is never completely predictable.

also from one of the articles

"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."

The jesuit priest case will cinch this state wide, I suspect. Jesuits rarely have congregations, but no one is going to tell them they can't perform marriages.

Edited by kokigami
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well York County says it's not, Bucks/Montgomery says it is. So it's a bit more up in the air then ever, unless it goes up to a state level court, or that State Statutes are changed to more clearly define what they mean by "regularly established church" which several State Reps have tried to do, by eliminating the the ULC in a manner very much like the overturned Utah statute.

Edited by Dorian Gray
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share