Legal Marriage Celebrants
21st May 2009 - UPDATE! Click here to skip down to the latest update.
The appointment of religious marriage celebrants in Australia is governed by the federal legislation Marriage Act 1961. The Marriage Act provides for two types of marriage celebrants:
- religious celebrants; and
- civil celebrants.
Appointment of Civil Celebrants
Civil celebrants are registered in accordance with the provisions of Part IV (Solemnization of marriages in Australia), Division 1 (Authorized celebrants), Sub-division C (Marriage celebrants) of the Marriage Act 1961. Section 39C states:
39C Entitlement to be registered as a marriage celebrant
(1) A person is only entitled to be registered as a marriage celebrant if the person is an individual and the Registrar of Marriage Celebrants is satisfied that the person:
- is aged 18 years or over; and
- has all the qualifications, and/or skills, determined in writing to be necessary by the Registrar in accordance with regulations made for the purposes of this paragraph; and
- is a fit and proper person to be a marriage celebrant.
The reference to qualifications is further described in the Marriage Regulations 1963:
37F Definitions
In this Subdivision:
Certificate IV in Celebrancy means the course with that name in the CHC08: Community Services Training Package (Version 1.1), published by the Community Services and Health Industry Skills Council, as in force on 2 February 2009.
Note A copy of CHC08: Community Services Training Package can be downloaded from the National Training Information Service website at http://www.ntis.gov.au.formal course of training means:
- a celebrancy qualification (however described) from a university, mentioned in a determination under regulation 37G, that includes all the units mentioned in subparagraph 37G (1) (a) (i) that are provided in accordance with the requirements mentioned in subregulation 37G (2); or
- a Certificate IV in Celebrancy, awarded by a registered training organisation, that includes all the units mentioned in subparagraph 37G (1) (a) (ii) that are provided in accordance with the requirements mentioned in subregulation 37G (2).
registered training organisation means an organisation that is registered under a law of a State or Territory as an organisation that is accredited to issue the qualification.
37G Qualifications and skills required for registration as a marriage celebrant (Act s 39C)
- For paragraph 39C (1) (b) of the Act, the determination must require the person to have:
- either:
- a celebrancy qualification (however described) from a university, mentioned in the determination, that includes all the units the Registrar determines to be necessary for registration as a marriage celebrant and are provided in accordance with the requirements mentioned in subregulation (2); or
- a Certificate IV in Celebrancy, awarded by a registered training organisation, that includes all the units the Registrar determines to be necessary for registration as a marriage celebrant and are provided in accordance with the requirements mentioned in subregulation (2); or
- the following skills:
- fluency in an indigenous language;
- ability to liaise with clients and, if appropriate, the indigenous community in planning a marriage ceremony;
- ability to conduct a marriage ceremony, and to register a marriage, as required under the Act (including completing the required documentation);
- ability to communicate effectively.
- For paragraph (1) (a), the requirements are as follows:
- each unit must be delivered by a marriage celebrant having the qualifications, skills, training and experience as a marriage celebrant that the Registrar determines;
- each unit must not be delivered by a marriage celebrant against whom the Registrar is taking or has taken any disciplinary measure mentioned in section 39I (2) of the Act during the period that the Registrar determines;
- each unit must include all the materials that the Registrar determines must be used in the unit.
The current cost of the Certificate IV in Celebrancy seems to vary from RTO to RTO, however the approximate cost of gaining the required qualifications is between $1500 and $1900, plus the cost of ongoing annual training that must be completed to retain the registration.
You should note that whilst a civil celebrant can work with others in order to provide a Pagan religious service, you must take into account the fact that:
- Not all civil celebrants may be willing to work with a Pagan High Priest/Priestess; and
- Your Marriage Certificate will be a Civil Certificate and not a Religious Certificate (yes, there is a difference!)
If you want to see the difference between these certificates, the following sample certificates have been taken from the Attorney General’s website (files are PDF format):
Whilst there is only a minor difference in the certificates, there may be those that would like their special day to be perfect, and may prefer to have a Religious Marriage Certificate. At present these people, if they want a Pagan wedding, have virtually no options available to them.
Appointment of Religious Celebrants
Religious celebrants are registered in accordance with the provisions of Part IV (Solemnization of marriages in Australia), Division 1 (Authorized Celebrants), Sub-division A (Ministers of religion). Section 29 states:
29 Qualifications for registration under this Subdivision
Subject to this Subdivision, a person is entitled to registration under this Subdivision if:
- the person is a minister of religion of a recognized denomination;
- the person is nominated for registration under this Subdivision by that denomination;
- the person is ordinarily resident in Australia; and
- the person has attained the age of 21 years.
Note that the qualifications criteria specified in the Regulations and the Act for Civil Celebrants do NOT apply to Religious Celebrants. The recognition of a denomination is provided for in Section 26 of the Act:
26 Recognised denominations
The Governor General may, by Proclamation, declare a religious body or a religious organization to be a recognized denomination for the purposes of this Act.
In order for an organisation to be registered as a recognised denomination, they must meet certain criteria and apply to the Federal Attorney General. The following information was provided by the Marriage Celebrants Section, Australian Attorney General’s Department:
Applications by religious organisations seeking to be proclaimed as recognised denomination under section 26 of the Act are assessed against the following criteria:
- the organisation should be independent of any other religious body or organisation;
- a central authority should exist for the nomination of ministers of religion as marriage Celebrants and to attend to other administrative functions associated with the Marriage Act 1961;
- there should normally be at least twelve congregations in different localities within Australia, each of which need the services of a marriage celebrant; and
- there should be evidence that an organisation has been established for a minimum of three years, with prospects of continuing existence.
Criteria (C) above instantly prevents almost all Pagan groups from gaining recognition as they generally operate as individual groups rather than joining under the banner of any one "umbrella" group. (The UPCoA is trying to meet these requirements by providing an umbrella group that individual groups can affiliate with, without forcing those groups to change their beliefs or operations to suit our own views or doctrine, however Pagan groups are always suspicious of such claims and understandably this process is taking time to complete.)
This means that NO Pagan orientated group can currently endorse a leader to conduct religious marriages. The only alternative is for the leader of Pagan groups to progress through the Civil Celebrants programme, which can be rather expensive and also does not guarantee that they will be endorsed as a celebrant as you could be placed on a waiting list if there are already enough Civil Celebrants in the area. Also, Civil Celebrants are limited to providing a civil ceremony, as opposed to religious celebrants who can offer a purely religious ceremony.
STOP PRESS! We recently received a rather irate email telling us that there are Pagan groups recognised under the Marriage Act 1961 and able to endorse religious marriage celebrants. The current list of recognised denominations, as obtained from the Federal Attorney General’s website, is reproduced at the bottom of this page (Click here to jump down). If anyone is able to locate the Pagan based group(s) in this list we would be very happy to hear from you (and would immediately publish a public apology!)
Enquiries from the UPCoA to the Attorney General’s Department prior to this campaign indicated that the only Pagan marriage celebrants were either:
- appointed under the Civil Celebrants programme; or
- appointed prior to the changes in 2003.
Whilst any such celebrants would be able to conduct Pagan marriages (the civil celebrants needing to comply with the requirements of the civil celebrants guidelines), they can not endorse any other person as a religious celebrant, and are certainly not recognised denominations.
Present Day situation
According to the 2006 Census there are some 28,456 people following a "Nature Religion" in Australia. This includes Paganism, Druidism, Pantheism, Wicca and Witchcraft, but does not include all those Pagans that choose not to list their religion (and we know that there is a significant number of these!).
Conversely some of the currently recognised denominations include (bold indicates less than 1000 followers in Australia):
| Denomination | Followers (2006 Census) | Congregations* (if < 12) |
|---|---|---|
| Aboriginal Evangelical | 3,820 | |
| Australian Church of Antioch | 7,830 | ?? |
| Christian & Missionary Alliance of Australia | 2,222 | |
| Christian City Church | 5,118 | |
| Christian Life Churches Intl. | 481 | |
| Church of Scientology Inc. | 2,513 | 6 |
| Church of the Nazarene | 1,405 | |
| Community of Christ | 1,041 | |
| Free Reformed Church of Australia | 2,656 | |
| Full Gospel Churches of Australia | 1,352 | |
| Liberal Catholic Church | 388 | 11 |
| New Apostolic Church in Australia | 2,726 | |
| New Church in Australia | 361 | 9 |
| Unitarians | 1,007 | 8 |
* taken from the websites of the organisation.
The following information from the Attorney General concerns the process of applying for recognition:
The following information is required in support of an application by a religious organisation for Recognition:
- A brief history of the establishment and growth of the organisation throughout Australia as evidence that the organisation is firmly established with prospects of continuing existence;
- details of the various member organisations including the establishment of each particular Congregation, size of each congregation, buildings or property owned by them and evidence that each individual church accepts and recognises the authority of the central Administration to nominate celebrants;
- An outline of the central administration’s system of management;
- The name and designation of the person who will hold the position of Nominating Authority for the organisation i.e. the person who will nominate and take responsibility for ministers within the church as marriage celebrants;
- A copy of the organisation’s constitution and any State or Territory incorporation;
- A copy of the form of wedding ceremony and confirmation that all celebrants within the Organisation will use the form of ceremony submitted with this application.
The UPCoA will be making a submission to the Federal Attorney-General that Pagan religious groups be exempted from complying with the normal requirements for recognition of a denomination, and instead be assessed on an individual basis upon application. Alternatively, several “central bodies” could be recognised so they may then provide a means for Pagan leaders to seek registration as a celebrant.
Obviously this has all been tried before, however given the above statistics it is extremely hard to accept that the current situation is either fair or permanent. Of course it would be far easier if a central Pagan body (and at this point ANY central body would be fine) could apply and meet all of the specified requirements, but until such time as Pagans and Pagan groups start to trust others enough to band together in order to help the entire religion the chances of this happening are fairly low, so the only option is to petition for alternate options.
If you would like to comment on this submission, give your support, or make other enquiries, contact us.
You can also download a paper Petition Form that you can use to get signatures in support of this submission. These petitions can then be sent back to us so we can send them to the Federal Attorney General. Obviously gaining as many signatures as possible would give significant weight to this request, so PLEASE, download a form and get your friends and associates to sign!
UPDATE!
In a letter dated 15 May 2009, the Federal Attorney General, Robert McClelland responded to our submission in 2008 to allow Pagan groups to apply for endorsement as a recognised denomination without the need for 12 congregations, due to the nature and structure of the Pagan religions. In his reply Mr McClelland stated:
The recognition of an existing organization by other Pagan groups as a governing body, or the creation of a new governing body, are two ways the Pagan religions could restructure themselves in order to apply for recognised denomination status. Other faiths have successfully taken this approach.
Our hope was that the Attorney General would understand that Pagan religions do not fit the current congregational model used in the recognition process, and would therefore consider granting recognition to independent groups on a case by case basis, however it seems evident that this is not going to happen. This means that Pagan groups wanting to conduct legal marriage ceremonies have 3 choices:
- Join with an existing umbrella group to overcome the 12 congregations requirement; or
- Form a new umbrella group and obtain 12 congregations; or
- Undertake civil celebrant training and registration, and conduct civil ceremonies only.
Back
UPDATE #2
In an effort to stay up-to-date with changing criteria we recently contacted the Attorney General’s Department asking them to clarify the current requirements for the appointment of religious celebrants, and the endorsement as a recognised denomination.
Religious Celebrants
As we said above, a “minister of religion” may be nominated by a recognised denomination for registration as a celebrant. The interesting part is that it seems a religious celebrant registered under this section does NOT have to comply with the same strict qualification criteria that civil celebrants have to comply with. Civil celebrants are required to complete a Certificate IV course before registration, which can cost in excess of $700 to $1200, or more, plus they have to complete annual training and attend workshops. The religious leader however is not required to meet this criteria and it is up to the recognised denomination to ensure they are trained in the performance of marriage ceremonies.
In a letter dated 21 May 2010, Vicki Parker, Assistant Secretary, Marriage & Intercountry Adoption Branch, Attorney General’s Department said:
The ministers of religion of a recognised denomination are not required to meet the qualification requirements that applicants for registration as Commonwealth marriage celebrants are subject to.
A “Commonwealth marriage celebrant” is a Civil Celebrant registered under section 39C of the Act.
Recognised Denomination
The criteria detailed above was confirmed as the current criteria for the recognition of an organisation, however one extra piece of information was included. The definition of a congregation was always an unknown element, however the AGD now advises that there is no definition of what constitutes a congregation, or of how many people constitute a congregation. Each case is assessed on its individual merits.
Currently Recognised Denominations
The following list of recognised denominations under Section 26 of the Marriage Act 1961 have been taken from the Attorney General’s website. You can find this list at: http://www.ag.gov.au/celebrants. This list is from the latest proclamation, released on 1 April 2010.
* the religion indicated is based on either the organisations own website, or general information on the internet.
| Denomination | Religion* | More Info |
|---|---|---|
| Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship of Australia | Christian | Go to website |
| Ananda Marga | Tantra Yoga | Go to website |
| Anglican Catholic Church in Australia, The | Christian | Go to website |
| Anglican Church of Australia, The | Christian | Go to website |
| Antiochian Orthodox Church | Christian | Go to website |
| Apostolic Church (Australia), The | Christian | Go to website |
| Apostolic Church of Queensland, The | Christian | Go to website |
| Armenian Apostolic Church in Australia, The | Christian | Wikipedia Info |
| Assemblies of God in Australia | Christian | Go to website |
| Associated Christian Ministries | Christian | Go to website |
| Associated Christian Spiritual Churches of Australia | Christian | Go to website |
| Associated Mission Churches of Australasia Incorporated | Christian | Info listing |
| Association of Vineyard Churches Australia, The | Christian | Go to website |
| Australian Christadelphian Ecclesia | Christian | Go to website |
| Australian Church of Antioch, The | Christian | Go to website |
| Australian Fellowship of Bible believing Churches | Christian | Go to website |
| Australian Fellowship of Mission Centres (Youth with a Mission) | Christian | Go to website |
| Australian Indigenous Ministries | Christian | Go to website |
| Australian Unitarian Druze | Islam | |
| Autocephalic Greek Orthodox Church of America and Australia | Christian | |
| Baha’I Faith | Baha’i | Go to website |
| Baptist Union of Australia, The | Christian | Go to website |
| Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Australia and Abroad | Christian | Historical Info |
| Bethesda Ministries International Incorporated | Christian | Go to website |
| Brethren | Christian | Wikipedia Info |
| C3 Church Global | Christian | Go to website |
| Calvary Life Assemblies | Christian | Go to website |
| Chinese Methodist Church in Australia | Christian | Go to website |
| Christian and Missionary Alliance of Australia, The | Christian | Go to website |
| Christian Brethren | Christian | NSW website |
| Christian Church in Australia | Christian | |
| Christian Church, The | Christian | |
| Christian City Church | Christian | Go to website |
| Christian Israelite Church | Christian Judaism | Go to website |
| Christian Life Churches International | Christian | Go to website |
| Christian Outreach Centre | Christian | Go to website |
| Christian Reformed Churches of Australia | Christian | Go to website |
| Churches of Christ in Australia | Christian | Go to website |
| Church of God (Australia) Limited | Christian | Go to website |
| Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints | Christian | Go to website |
| Church of Scientology Incorporated, The | Scientology | Go to website |
| Church of the Foursquare Gospel (Australia) Limited | Christian | Go to website |
| Church of the Foursquare Gospel in Australia | Christian | Go to website |
| Church of the Nazarene | Christian | Go to website |
| Church of Tonga in Australia, The | Christian | Wikipedia Info |
| Community of Christ | Christian | Go to website |
| Congregational Christian Church in Samoa, The | Christian | |
| Congregational Federation of Australia | Christian | Wikipedia Info |
| Connexions Ltd | ??? | |
| Cook Islands Christian Church | Christian | |
| Coptic Orthodox Church of Australia | Chistian | Go to website |
| CRC Churches International | Christian | Wikipedia Info |
| Crosslink Christian Network | Christian | Go to website |
| Dream Centre Christian Church Limited | Christian | Go to website |
| Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Australia, The | Christian | Go to website |
| Federation of Australian Buddhist Councils | Buddhism | Go to website |
| Federation of Reformed Christian Churches of the Pacific Australia Incorporated | Christian | |
| Fellowship of Congregational Churches | Christian | Go to website |
| Fellowship of Evangelical Churches in Australia | Christian | Go to website |
| Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches | Christian | Go to website |
| Free Reformed Church of Australia | Christian | Go to website |
| Free Serbian Orthodox Church, Diocese for Australia and New Zealand | Christian | |
| Full Gospel Churches of Australia | Christian | Go to website |
| German Evangelical Lutheran Church | Christian | |
| Goshen Ministry International Outreach | ||
| Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia | Christian | Go to website |
| Hindu Council of Australia, The | Hindu | Go to website |
| Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East | Christian | Go to website |
| Hungarian Reformed Church of Australia, The | Christian | Wikipedia Info |
| Iglesia ni Cristo | Christian | |
| Independent Baptist Fellowship | Christian | Go to website |
| Independent Baptists of Australia | Christian | |
| Independent Church of Australia, The | Christian | Go to website |
| International Council of Spiritualists | Spiritualism | Go to website |
| International Society for Krishna Consciousness | Hare Krishna | Go to website |
| Islam | Islam | |
| Jehovah’s Witnesses | Christian | Go to website |
| Jewry | Judaism | |
| Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Victoria, The | Christian | Wikipedia Info |
| Liberal Catholic Church, The | Christian | Go to website |
| Lutheran Church of Australia Incorporated, The | Christian | Go to website |
| Macedonian Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Church | Christian | |
| Macedonian Orthodox Church, Diocese of Australia and New Zealand | Christian | Wikipedia Info |
| Ministers Fellowship International | Christian | Go to website |
| New Apostolic Church in Australia, The | Christian | Go to website |
| New Church in Australia, The | Christian | Go to website |
| New Life Churches of Australia | Christian | Go to website |
| OzReach | Christian | Go to website |
| Potters House Christian Fellowship of Australia, The | Christian | Go to website |
| Power of the Spirit Ltd | Christian | |
| Presbyterian Church of Australia, The | Christian | Go to website |
| Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia | Christian | Go to website |
| Presbyterian Reformed Church | Christian | Go to website |
| Reach Out for Christ Limited | Christian | Go to website |
| Reformed Presbyterian Church of Australia, The | Christian | Go to website |
| Religious Society of Friends, The | Christian (Quakers) |
Go to website |
| Revival Centres International | Christian | Go to website |
| Revival Fellowship, The | Christian | Go to website |
| Rhema Family Churches Australia | Christian | Go to website |
| Roman Catholic Church | Christian | Go to website |
| Romanian Orthodox Church | Christian | Go to website |
| Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia | Christian | Go to website |
| Salvation Army, The | Christian | Go to website |
| Serbian Orthodox Church in Australia and New Zealand, The | Christian | Wikipedia Info |
| Seventh day Adventist Church | Christian | Go to website |
| Sikh Council of Australia Incorporated, The | Sikhism | Go to website |
| Society of Saint Pius X Limited | Christian | Go to website |
| Southern Cross Association of Churches, The | Christian | Go to website |
| Strict and Particular Baptist Churches of Australia, The | Christian | Wikipedia Info |
| Torres United Pentecostal Outreach Association Incorporated | Christian | |
| Ukrainian Autocephalic Orthodox Church in Diaspora, Diocese of Australia and New Zealand |
Christian | |
| Unitarians | Unitarianism | Wikipedia Info Go to website |
| United Aborigines Mission | Christian | Go to website |
| United Church of God - Australia | Christian | Go to website |
| United Pentecostal Church of Australia | Christian | Go to website |
| United Spiritualism of Australia | Spiritualism | Go to website |
| Uniting Church in Australia, The | Christian | Go to website |
| Victorian Spiritualists’ Union | Spiritualism | Go to website |
| Victory Life Centre Inc. | Christian | |
| Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Connexion in Victoria, The | Christian | Go to website |
| Wesleyan Methodist Church, The | Christian | Go to website |
| Westminster Presbyterian Church, The | Christian | Go to website |
| Worldwide Church of God | Christian | Go to website |
| Worship Centre Christian Churches Worldwide (Australia) Ltd | Christian |
