Oh! Come on Judy - just imagine what fun we- the lay members of the
church- would have if we could do all those things and say the magic
words. I am really taken by the "Check out Ministry in a Box." There
are many in the community who would wish that that was where the
ministry was. Anyway, I for one, have decided that being legal is no
more fun!
Malcolm.
On 11/06/2004, at 9:55 AM, Judy Redman wrote:
Peter tells us:
RE: LEGAL ORDINATION
Become a legally ordained minister within 48 hours
As a minister, you will be authorized to perform the rites and
ceremonies of
the church!
Perform Weddings, Funerals, and Perform Baptisms Forgiveness of Sins
and
Visit Correctional Facilities
Want to open a church?
Check out Ministry in a Box
to find out how press <http://www.producedtolast.com/rev/> here
Cute, except for two small problems in Australia - being ordained does
not
automatically enable you to perform legal weddings. You must be
ordained by
a relgious organisation that is recognised by the Registry of Births,
Deaths
and Marriages, and they must submit your name to the Registrar.
Unless you
have celebrant's number, any marriages you perform are not legal.
And you can't visit correctional facilities unless you are sponsored,
again
by a religious organisation that is recognised by the Justice Dept in
your
state of residence, as a chaplain and have had appropriate criminal
record
checks, or you are on the visit list of individual prisoners, in which
case
you can only visit those particular prisoners, or the particular
facility
agrees that you can visit for a particular purpose.
In addition, anyone can officiate at a funeral - you don't need to be
ordained or trained. A friend of the family can do it if the person is
willing and the family wants this. In some states (eg Victoria) you
may
require a second witness to sign the official papers if you are not
ordained, but this is not exactly a huge problem.
So I'm not sure that this wonderful new service will be worth a great
deal
for the average Aussie.
Judy
--
"Politics is the work we do to keep the world safe for our
spirituality" -
Judith Plaskow
Rev Judy Redman
Uniting Church Chaplain
University of New England
Armidale 2351
ph: +61 2 6773 3739
fax: +61 2 6773 3749
web: http://www.une.edu.au/campus/chaplaincy/uniting/
action for peace:
http://www.une.edu.au/campus/chaplaincy/uniting/links/peace.html
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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