ULC Merger to Take Place

As most of you are already aware, I have been a member of the ULC (Universal Life Church) as a Pagan Clergy since 2003. Yesterday, I received an update via my e-mail from Rev. Amy at ULC Seminary that the following merger between ULC. net and ULC Seminary are officially taking place at this time. I have included an excerpt from the e-mail message informing all members that these two organizations have finally decided to join together:

ULC MERGER! - I sent this message out a few months ago, but I don't think it went through for everyone, so I'm sharing the info again. For well over a decade, Kevin Andrews (who runs ulc.net) and I have had a great working relationship. It has been progressing and is now at the point where we have decided to combine forces! There's so much craziness that has gone on in the ULC community since George (Br. Martin) took control of the monastery websites, then 'Br. Michael' started his 'own' thing and mucked up the waters. Kevin and I decided it was time for some unity. Kevin and I are affiliated with the original headquarters in Modesto and none of us has anything to do with the monastery or with the FL guy in any way shape or form. Their sites, while possibly (probably) saying ULC on them, are totally different organizations.

SITE OVERHAUL - If you haven't visited the ulcseminary.org site in awhile, please do. The whole thing has been re-done. It's now a lovely shade of green, with a whole new navigation and updated look. There are still links that need to be updated and added, but the overall site is done. Please check it out. It should be a lot easier for you to find all the information on the site. When the ULC programmer was originally working on it, he said he had no idea that the site had so much information in it. You can expect more essays to be posted, homework, sermons and more. If you want to send in a ceremony or sermon that you've written, to be posted and shared with everyone, please send it to amy@ulcseminary.org and I'll get it up there. With the new format, it's so much easier to update things that I'm going to be going nuts adding things. I'm pretty excited about it.
 -- Rev. Amy (And Rev. Kevin)

 I, personally, am very happy to hear this news and hopefully,  Rev. Amy and Rev. Kevin's e-mail information will finally clear up ONCE and FOR ALL the past confusion which has been going on for so long as to which is the "real" ULC organization.

(related post: http://thewiccalife.blogspot.com/2011/04/important-news-from-real-ulc.html)

Brightest Blessings ALL!

Same-Sex Marriage Laws in PA

Living in Pennsylvania my entire life, I can honestly say that their State laws have always been rigid and, to say the very least, reserved! Such had been the case in regards to same-sex/gay marriage. As a ULC ordained Pagan Clergy, it is my responsibility to keep up with ALL State marriage laws throughout the United States to ensure legality.

For many years, there had been a ban on same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania. However, on May 20, 2014, all that changed thanks to a U.S. federal district judge who ruled the ban on recognizing same-sex marriage unconstitutional. And, indeed, it was.

To me, this had not been so much of a "liberal" issue as it was a "human" one. Let us not forget that before the Universal Life Church came into existence, any couple who belonged to an "unrecognized faith" could not get legally married in most, if not all, states. Hence, of course, further proving my point that "church" and "state" should be kept two separate entities. As far as I am concerned, to each their own. My motto is, and always has been to "live and let live!" 

Much like Judge Judy, I am of the opinion that as long as you are a good citizen, pay your taxes, and you work, you should have all the rights and responsibilities as everyone else. No one has the right to dictate to someone else exactly "how" they should live in regards to their personal lives and what they should believe in (and what they should not). 

I actually own three of Judge Judy Sheindlin's awesome books ~ "Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining," "Beauty Fades, Dumb is Forever," and "You're Smarter Than You Look."  I love these books! Unlike her on-screen persona which may seem quite "too no-nonsense and to the point" for some, her books are excellent. They combine her life and career experiences throughout her many years as a presiding family court judge with a bit of real-life humor.

Whether or not one likes her, she is a strong supporter of same-sex marriage and has performed them throughout her career as a judge, stating that, "One of the loveliest weddings I performed was with a gay couple. This is a couple who had been together for almost two decades. They love and adore each other and I don't think they could have loved and adored each other any more than if they were a heterosexual couple then (if) they are a gay couple."

https://youtu.be/WS_HVWEFDe8?si=jRbVhvDB5WYsUpra

The bottom line, and regardless of religion and/or state, we are all children of the Goddess and God ~ of the divine universe which created us all. As a member of the Pagan Clergy, I, personally, welcome this new change!

A very special request!

I'm soo excited! I just received a call from a long-time dear friend of mine, Kiki (a.k.a. "Kiki-girl"). She asked me if I would do her a favor and officiate at her up-coming wedding next month. 

This will only be the second Christian ceremony which I will be officiating. Although I am of the Wiccan/Pagan faith, I am an interfaith minister as well. I have always loved learning about different religious beliefs and I respect a person's right to get legally married the way in which they wish to.

 Kiki loving on our kitty, and her namesake, "Kiki"

The ceremony itself will be a shortened version of the Handfasting ritual I normally use for Wiccan/Pagan weddings, using only the parts which may pertain to most religions in general such as the "Lord" as a deity.

My attire at least will be showing my more "conservative" side I suppose you could say?

Needless to say, I am very much looking forward to it and wish her all the best!

Out of the blue

As you are all aware, I have been an ordained Pagan clergy member for the Universal Life Church since March of 2002. Last Saturday afternoon, I received a phone call from a woman who is also an ordained Minister of my Church. She had found my name and information in the Minister Directory on the ULC website where I am registered. She called me in order to get some information about Pennyslvania State laws regarding ULC marriage as her niece had asked her to officiate her wedding here in PA.

Now, as far as PA is concerned, the laws are fairly "iffie" at best. That's right, for all of the lip service that is given to "freedom of religion,"we still fall a tad short of the meaning ~ even though most States do actually recognize the ULC as a legitimate religious organization. I explained to her that in the State of PA, the law requires that at least one of the participants getting married must be a member of the ULC. I also advised her to contact the County in which the legal marriage was to take place. In her case, it happened to be Montgomery County (I am located in Berks).

Officiating at Lady Sabrina Rhiannon's legal interfaith Handfasting ceremony ~ 2003

The fact is, ULC is a legitimate Church and has fought for the legal rights of ALL religions be they Christian, Pagan, or other. This does not; of course, mean that we, as ULC Ministers, are exempt from following and obeying any and/or all of the individual laws per State. It is imperative that our Ministers, regardless of our religious affiliations, do their homework and find out what each State's legal marriage requirements are in order to be sure that we adhere to them!

I was only too happy to be able to help her and wished she and her niece many blessings!

Important News From the “Real” U.L.C.

In February 2009, I had lost my Universal Life Church Minister Credential card so I decided to go on line and order another one. To my surprise, I was told that I wasn’t already added to their records as an ordained minister for their church! I knew that I was ordained back in March of 2003, but could not remember the actual day. So I immediately contacted the U.L.C. headquarters which is located in Modesto, CA regarding this issue. The very next day I received an e-mail response from Andre Hensley himself explaining that I AM indeed on record as one of their ordained ministers and that their official website is www.ulchq.com and that the only other ULC Headquarters authorized site is www.ulc.net operated by Pastor Kevin Andrews in Citrus Heights, CA. I have spoken to Pastor Andrews a couple of times before on the phone and he is a very nice gentleman who is always happy to assist in any way he can. Mr. Hensley confirmed my ordination information and informed me that I was officially ordained on March 18. 2003.

He explained to me that The ULC Seminary is a site that is operated by a minister of the church for her ministry. It is not an official ULC Headquarters site, but a known site. She offers to accept and forward ordination REQUESTS to the actual ULC Headquarters to be ordained by the ULC Church.

The former ulc.org site was started in 1995 by one of the ULC’s ministers, Brother Dan Zimmerman, for his congregation called Universal Life Church/ULC Monastery, Inc. in Tucson, AZ. He requested to be authorized to accept and forward to ULC Headquarters all ordination requests received on his site to be ordained by The Church. That authorization was granted. In 2005, Brother Dan Zimmerman asked one of his members to assist with operating part of the site from Seattle, WA. In 2006, they had an internal management dispute that will take court legal action to resolve. So Brother Dan did the responsible thing and closed the ulc.org site on August 1, 2006. At that time, the ULC Headquarters authorization to them was revoked. Since then, the part in Seattle, WA had done a “hostile takeover” of the ulc.org site and changed the name to themonastery.org and  are calling themselves Universal Life Church Monastery Storehouse, Inc. “They ARE a separate organization that is NOT AFFILIATED WITH US,” said Andre Hensley. He further explained to me via his e-mail that the Monastery implies that they are affiliated with the original, real ULC in order to confuse people into ordering from them. They have only been in existence since September 2006 and they are back dating credentials to years before they even started. Plus, the ministers are receiving incorrect certificates from a church that they were not even ordained by!

Since then, the “real” ULC site has added a page to their Seminary site to let people know what is going on. If you were ordained after August 1, 2006, PLEASE, I seriously urge you to read this important announcement on the ULC site! Especially if you have been performing legal weddings, handfastings, etc.  It is much better to be safe than sorry!!!! http://www.ulcseminary.org/changeofsite.php