Request By:
Mr. Thomas E. Morris
Christian County Court Clerk
Hopkinsville, Kentucky 42240
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You ask whether a person who is a minister in a church that calls itself religious and accepts ordination from God alone may be granted a license by the county judge to solemnize marriages.
If this is a minister of the gospel of a denomination in regular communion with a religious society, he would qualify under KRS 402.050. The ritual of ordainment is not a statutory prerequisite. Of course he must be a resident of Christian County if the county judge of your county is to grant such license.
It is not necessary to answer your additional question about ordination. You ask if being a preacher qualifies him as a minister under the statute. The point of qualification is that he must be a minister of the gospel of any denomination in regular communion with any religious society. See OAG 74-673, copy enclosed, of related interest.