Saturday, February 26, 2011

2011 UPDATE to ULC ordination instruction

When you purchase a SubGenius Membership and Ordination, that little card that comes with the package (which you fill out yourself) is all you need to perform weddings almost everywhere we know of in the U.S.A. and, evidently, most other countries. You don't need any more documentation from us. We ask that you send in the little confirmation postcard to us mainly because so many of our Memberships are bought as gifts for others and we want to make sure we have the right person on record.

I, Stang, and countless other SubGenius ministers, have performed dozens of marriages in many states. Every now and then a city might require a one-time fee of like $15 to be registered in that particular city. (This happened to me recently after a New York City wedding but I had no trouble getting "certified" once I paid the city's fee and sent a copy of my SubG ordination card.)

We have offered the Universal Life Church ordainment as a kind of back-up, because they were better known than we are. According to their old rules, any ULC minister (such as myself) could ordain new ULC ministers. They have evidently changed this recently, and they also changed addresses and methods. For one thing they seem to have moved from Modesto, CA to Seattle:

ULC Monastery Staff
1425 Broadway Ste. 67
Seattle, WA 98122 USA

They now say that the only way to become a Minister of their church is through their online ordination process at :

http://www.themonastery.org/

This is still free, although they now (not unreasonably) charge to mail you the certificate ($7), a plastic ID card ($12, much fancier than the one I got in 1979) or even a big $50 package.

Hmmm. Maybe we need to update our ordainment package too.

To repeat: You are already a SubGenius minister and your card proves it. (You can also request an official letter from me if some picky state demands such things.) The ULC ordination is a bonus you can choose or not.

If your SubG package came with a postcard addressed to ULC in California, you can toss that, and just register with them online if you wish.

Thanks and praise "Bob,"

Rev. Ivan Stang