A September 2007 decision in which a York County, Pa., judge invalidated a marriage because it was performed by a minister who was ordained via the Internet was the catalyst for litigation over the validity of a ministers credentials and what exactly defines a church.

“A minister ordained over the Internet who has no congregation and no church to preach in is nonetheless empowered under Pennsylvania law to preside over marriage ceremonies, a Bucks County judge has ruled.”

“The Dec. 31 decision by Judge C. Theodore Fritsch Jr. in In re O’Neill directly conflicts with a September 2007 decision in which a York County judge invalidated a marriage because it was performed by a minister who was ordained via the Internet.”

In the 2007 case Heyer v. Hollerbush , a judge held that the marriage of Dorie Heyer and Jacob Hollerbush never existed because the Universal Life Church minister who conducted it did not serve a congregation or preach in a physical house of worship.”

As a result of the judges decision, registers of wills in counties throughout Pennsylvania began telling prospective couples that marriages performed by ministers who don’t serve a congregation or place of worship are not valid and some counties were even telling couple to get remarried.

As a Result, Attorney Mary Catherine Roper of the American Civil Liberties Union Of Pennsylvania  went to court on behalf of three couples seeking legal declarations that their marriages are valid.

Now, with Fritsch’s decision, Roper has won all three cases and, in the final case, a written opinion that rejects the previous judges’ analysis.

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