You are probably aware of recent events in Pennsylvania that may have or will affect your ministry. Earlier in September, a Judge Marcia Musti Cook of York County annulled a marriage solemnized by one of our fellow ULC ministers on the basis that his ordination was invalid because he had no church or congregation.


Association solicitor David C. Cleaver has emailed court clerks throughout Pennsylvania telling them not to file a marriage license if the officiant has been ordained over the Internet.



The greatest threat lies in PA House Bill 1099. Its sponsors seek to invalidate all online ordinations in the state of Pennsylvania. We urgently need your help to kill this bill. Below are the e-mail addresses for some of its sponsors. The other sponsors’ emails were not readily available but they may be contacted at the following link:



http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/...list.cfm?body=H



We urge you to contact them and register your opposition to the bill. Additionally, a letter to your Representive would be extremely helpful.



HB 1099 Sponsors:

mailto:tcaltagi@pahouse.net, mailto:tcreighton@pahousegop.com, mailto:ggrell@pahousegop.com, mailto:bmackereth@pahousegop.com, mailto:ktrue@pahousegop.com

Saylor, Hennessey, Kenney, Belfanti, Gillespie, Gingrich, Grell, Hershey, Kauffman, M. Deller, R. Miller, Murt, Scavello, Schroder, True, Wojnaroski



For your convience here is a sample letter. You may copy and paste the text into the body of your message to your Representive.

Dear [ ],

My name is [ ] and I am a resident of Pennsylvania. I am writing to strongly urge you to oppose House Bill 1099, and amendment to Title 23 (Domestic Relations)of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes. If passed, the Bill will strip me and all other online-ordained ministers of our Constitutional right to solemnize marriages.

I am sure I need not remind you, but the First Amendment states:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;..."

Please do the right thing and kill this bill.

Sincerely,

[ ]

The ACLU needs to hear from you if you have been denied or have any information on anyone who has been denied the right to perform a marriage in Pennsylvania.



Please contact the ACLU at mailto:info@aclupa.org



In the past there have been similar problems in other states such as New York, Utah, and Nevada but through legal action or threat of lawsuit, we have been able to preserve the rights of our ministers. We plan to do the same for Pennsylvania. If you would like to make a financial contribution to help defray legal expenses, Please visit our website http://www.themonastery.org/. As we must cage the beast of bureaucracy and fight those who would abridge the First amendment to deny us our God-given rights.