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Author Topic: Wiccan Denied Clergy Status in Virginia  (Read 1624 times)

mlr52

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Wiccan Denied Clergy Status in Virginia
« on: July 03, 2012, 08:33:45 pm »
Wiccan Denied Clergy Status in Virginia
June 29, 2012 By Jason Pitzl-Water

[The following is a guest post from Literata Hurley. Literata is a Wiccan priestess, poet, and theaologian. Her work has appeared in several anthologies and  periodicals, including Mandragora, Queen of the Sacred Way, Anointed, Witches & Pagans, and CIRCLE Magazine. She blogs regularly for The Slacktiverse and her own site, Works of Literata. She is an ordained High Priestess of the Order of the White Moon, a women's spirituality organization. In between leading Rose Coven, reading Tarot, and communing with nature, she is writing her Ph.D. dissertation in history and enjoys travel and spending time with her husband and cats.]

The Arlington County Court refused to grant me the right to perform marriages in Virginia, apparently on the grounds that my “congregation” does not own a building.

I presented my certificate of ordination and documentation of the 501c3 status of the Order of the White Moon, which ordained me. Since my Order is incorporated in California, the secretary asked me if I had a congregation in Virginia; I said yes. She asked me to list the address of the congregation, and I said that we don’t have a building. She asked, “So, what, you just meet in each other’s homes?” I said yes, we meet in each other’s homes, or out of doors (Wicca is, after all, an earth-based religion, but I thought that mentioning that would only be prejudicial to my situation).

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2012/06/wiccan-denied-clergy-status-in-virginia.html

There is more than what this snippet says.
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sailor

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Re: Wiccan Denied Clergy Status in Virginia
« Reply #1 on: July 04, 2012, 07:07:18 am »
Quote from: mlr52;62676
Wiccan Denied Clergy Status in Virginia
June 29, 2012 By Jason Pitzl-Water

[The following is a guest post from Literata Hurley. Literata is a Wiccan priestess, poet, and theaologian. Her work has appeared in several anthologies and  periodicals, including Mandragora, Queen of the Sacred Way, Anointed, Witches & Pagans, and CIRCLE Magazine. She blogs regularly for The Slacktiverse and her own site, Works of Literata. She is an ordained High Priestess of the Order of the White Moon, a women's spirituality organization. In between leading Rose Coven, reading Tarot, and communing with nature, she is writing her Ph.D. dissertation in history and enjoys travel and spending time with her husband and cats.]

The Arlington County Court refused to grant me the right to perform marriages in Virginia, apparently on the grounds that my “congregation” does not own a building.

I presented my certificate of ordination and documentation of the 501c3 status of the Order of the White Moon, which ordained me. Since my Order is incorporated in California, the secretary asked me if I had a congregation in Virginia; I said yes. She asked me to list the address of the congregation, and I said that we don’t have a building. She asked, “So, what, you just meet in each other’s homes?” I said yes, we meet in each other’s homes, or out of doors (Wicca is, after all, an earth-based religion, but I thought that mentioning that would only be prejudicial to my situation).

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2012/06/wiccan-denied-clergy-status-in-virginia.html

There is more than what this snippet says.

 
Sounds like the clerk abused his discrestion when she didn't provide an address when first asked. Since VA only requires 3 people to be a congregation, owning property as (sort of) the church isn't going to be common for new groups. Heck lots of groups are meeting in borrowed space.

Oh, and until Jerry Falwell sued the state, churches could not be incorporated, so there was some funky stuff about how the land was owned.

fjfritz

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Re: Wiccan Denied Clergy Status in Virginia
« Reply #2 on: July 04, 2012, 04:06:21 pm »
Quote from: mlr52;62676
The Arlington County Court refused to grant me the right to perform marriages in Virginia, apparently on the grounds that my “congregation” does not own a building.

 
This seems to be a problem specific to the Arlington County Court jurisdiction. I know several pagan clergy members authorized by the Commonwealth of Virginia to do marriages and all other associated clergy functions. Heck, my wife and I were married by one.

Years ago it used to be extremely difficult to get a pagan recognized as clergy here. Most tried to use the ordination "granted" by Universal Life Church, which VA did not accept (with good reason, in my opinion).

I think the Wiccan mentioned in the article ran into a court clerk who was either woefully uneducated or outright biased against her. Either way, it isn't the clerk's call, it is a Circuit Court Judge who makes the decision.

Good luck to her!

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