by Valerie Rojas
Assistant Editor
It is time for the wedding of your dreams. You have the perfect dress. The perfect church. The perfect cake. There is just one thing missing: the perfect minister.
Now, thanks to the wonderful world of the Internet, you can have your best friend, your neighbor, even your little sister perform the wedding for you, as well as any future baptisms or other religious ceremonies.
A plethora of Internet sites have surfaced on the World Wide Web, all offering the same thing: Get legally ordained online, in a matter of minutes.
The Web sites state the ordination is perfectly legit, claiming that any ceremonies performed require certain certification that is dependent on the state in which the ceremony takes place.
The average Joe or Jane Blow can now legally marry any couple, so long as he or she obtains an online ordination and the right marriage documents from the state.
One Web site in particular offers any person, of any sex or religion the opportunity to get ordained instantly.
By visiting, priesthood is just a click of the mouse away.
It takes just a few minutes to download the ordination form and fill in the requested information.
The Universal Life Church (ULC) does not even require that those who become ordained members of the church be of legal age; however, they do suggest that anyone who is ordained under the age of 18 should inquire as to the legal regulations of their state regarding marriages performed by minors.
“We believe everyone is already a member of the church and is just not aware of it yet,” the ULC said.
The ULC claims they will ordain anyone that asks for life without question of their faith or any fee.
Other Web sites offer ordination in a matter of seconds.
By simply providing an e-mail address, first and last name, and clicking enter, anyone can obtain the title of Sister/Brother, and perform weddings.
The legality of these certifications may be questioned. Some of these Web sites could possibly be nothing more than a way for sneaky salesmen to obtain your e-mail address and begin bombarding your account with junk mail
“I wouldn’t trust any computer geek to perform my wedding ceremony if all they did was visit some Web site to get ordained,”said University of La Verne sophomore Carina Gonzalez.
Other ULV students have had experience with online ordinations. One student in particular has even been married by someone who received their rights to priesthood online.
Michelle Baccus, a ULV sophomore, was at a coffee shop when one of her friends announced that she just received her online ordination.
After someone suggested that Baccus and a fellow coffee drinker get married on the spot, the wedding ceremony was performed.
“Someone said ‘let’s do it’, so we did it,” Baccus said.
Because none of the required certification was obtained for the wedding ceremony, the marriage is not legally binding.
“It was just a joke, we didn’t take it seriously,” Baccus said. “But thank God she didn’t have the papers.”
For more information about online ordination visit www.ulc.org.
