by Dally Messenger |||
(Principal of the International College of Celebrancy)
The COVID-19 pandemic was a global disruptor, shaking the very foundations of how we live and connect. In many parts of the Western world, gatherings were abruptly outlawed. Here in Australia, for example, only five people—the bride, groom, and two witnesses—were allowed at weddings. Funerals were reduced to just ten attendees, all masked and distant, stripping these milestones of their usual intimacy.
See Module 1,
The History, Nature, and Development of Ceremony is a step on the journey towards becoming a professional celebrant, a person steeped in the understanding of ceremony. Understanding inspires and motivates. This course enables you to transcend the mere “doing” of a ceremony and embrace its transformative power. It is a course of study, including practical fieldwork, designed to shed light on the path to in-depth best practice.
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I am still alarmed that no discussion seems to be allowed on the one and most important problem, which is so destructive of the celebrant program—that of excessive numbers.
I keep my ear to the ground and talk to celebrants and the general public all the time. There are a few quite wonderful celebrants who, by dint of skilled advertising on the internet and a good reputation, manage to gain enough ceremonies to earn a part-time income. There are a few celebrants who are so well off financially that they are able to spend a great deal of money to hire internet skills.
Topics include threats to the Civil Celebrant program, the French model raised by AG Mr Philip Ruddock the importance of focusing on celebrancy, if I were attorney general for a day, how things should be in the program, the question of a valid marriage, the wedding vows as a compact, a celebrants’ meeting with the public service, civil celebrants established officially in New Jersey, USA, signatures on a decorative marriage certificate, and how civil ceremonies enrich the culture and transmit values. Open letters from Dally Messenger to attorneys-general George Brandis, Nicola Roxen, and Mark Dreyfus.
Continue readingTuesday, 17 September 2019
Dear public servants and fellow delegates,
Without a vision, the people perish.
In the last few years I have been looking at your agendas and minutes and find myself with a growing feeling of despair. I cannot detect the vision any more.
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Let me explain. There are two groups in Australia who are good examples of those who understand deeply what the word “culture” means—the Aboriginal people and the Jewish community. Their lives are full of ceremonies and rituals all year round and all life through. They know who they are and to whom they belong because their values and beliefs are enshrined in these events.
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“Here is an author who deeply understands ritual and symbolism.
If you understand what celebrancy is about, the first of September 2003 is a day that makes you put your face in your hands and weep. This was the day when a group of uneducated, insensitive, unintelligent, and rather vicious public servants, endowed with new and extraordinary government-sanctioned powers, set out, knowingly or unknowingly, to destroy the civil celebrant program.
Continue readingSection 39 of the Marriage Act in Australia should be changed back so as to clearly distinguish clergy from civil celebrants. The destructive change in 2003 should be seen for what it is – an attempt to destroy the civil celebrant program and a wonderful, uniquely Australian social innovation.
This article of mine was published in the Australian Humanist—Summer 2015. Since Phillip Ruddock made his statement on QandA, Clive Palmer has come up with a plan that sounds very much the same. Here is the full text of my article.
The unique Australian Civil Celebrant Program was and is a great social and political initiative. For over forty years it has enabled secular humanists to free themselves from religious connections. Unfortunately, in the last ten years this program has been partially destroyed and certainly greatly diminished by hostile (religious?) public servants and politicians.
The very existence of the civil celebrant is now under serious threat. It is close to possible annihilation. If the enemies of secularism do succeed in finishing it off, it will go without a bang or whimper—ceasing to exist while still under the radar.
Continue readingHi, My name is Dally Messenger
I’ve been a civil marriage celebrant for 52 years (2026).
This is about writing your own vows for your marriage. ceremony. Vows as a compact. Have a look at this vow from one of my weddings for starters.
Tuesday, 30 June 30, 2015. To The Hon Philip Ruddock, Attorney General, Parliament House, CANBERRA. ACT 2600
Dear Mr Ruddock,
Re same-sex and heterosexual marriage: The French Model
Since the dawn of history, marriage has transformed strangers into relatives, binding families and societies together. No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than they once were. Marriage is a keystone of our social order.
Justice Anthony Kennedy
Continue readingWe all used to let anyone sign this certificate for the first 30 years of the program. Apart from the necessary signatures of the bride and groom and the two chief witnesses and the celebrant, sometimes the parents, the groomsmen, and the bridesmaids would sign on the front. In doing so, they felt of real significance and part of the ceremony. Quite often all the guests were asked to sign their names on the back of the certificate, preserving a precious memory for the bride and groom.
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Fellow Members
I have submitted this to the Skills Council as being my take on why we should have an in-depth diploma course in celebrancy. The tragedy is that before the downgrading of 2003 and the deluging of the celebrant marketplace, we were getting somewhere. We were going somewhere good.
I wrote down these thoughts as celebrants and public servants are arguing about a proposed “recognised” course for celebrants.
Preview of the government study unit:
Re: 1A CHCCEL503X Research, create, evaluate, and organize ceremonies.
By his friend Dally Messenger III
Brian McInerney died on December 22nd, 2014
This heart was woven of human joys and cares,
Washed marvellously with sorrow,
swift to mirth.
The years had given him kindness.
Dawn was his,
And sunset,
and the colours of the earth.
Here are the priority questions I think should be dealt with by the meeting of the December 2, 2014.
There are many more issues which I have outlined in fate following articles and blogs:
https://iccdiplomas.com/2014/01/29/celebrants-what-is-and-what-ought-to-be/
https://iccdiplomas.com/2014/01/29/celebrants-what-is-and-what-ought-to-be-2/
https://iccdiplomas.com/2014/02/02/celebrants-what-is-and-what-ought-to-be-5/
https://iccdiplomas.com/2014/02/04/celebrants-what-is-and-what-ought-to-be-6/
https://iccdiplomas.com/2013/12/28/a-valid-marriage-yes-or-no/
http://www.collegeofcelebrancy.com.au/Pages5/DRM_To_AG_Brandis.html
http://www.collegeofcelebrancy.com.au/pages4/roxonopenltr4.html
http://www.collegeofcelebrancy.com/pages4/OpenLtrToDreyfus.html
http://www.yourmarriagecelebrant.co/informs_re/Oz_CMCs-probs.html
I would like to ask the Attorney-General to consider the following.
I could add much more to this, but I would love to ask the Minister to take an interest in his obligations to the cultural life of our country. I have given most of my life to celebrancy (most of it voluntarily) only to see most of the gains we have made destroyed by some public servants, who attempted to “build an empire”. They have near destroyed a program which has changed the face of Australia for the better at a very deep level.
Dear Colleagues,
They have always been gracious in acknowledging our founder, Attorney-General Lionel Murphy.
Left to Right: Cindy Reed, Remi Messenger, Charlotte Eulette, Gaile Sarma, Kim Kirkle
Gerald Fierst is graduate of the International College of Celebrancy, as indeed are the first 30 celebrants or so, after which time our graduates over there set up their own teaching system.A COLLEAGUE WROTE
I’ve just witnessed (on video) a recent country wedding conducted by a civil celebrant. What astounded me was that the celebrant:
a. did not state they were legally authorised to conduct the marriage
b. the Monitum was not spoken
c. neither party to the marriage said the compulsory legal vow
This celebrant was authorised more than 20 years ago, according to the AGD register of civil celebrants, so they’ve been around long enough to know better, or are there different rules for the “elders” amongst our ranks? I’m very curious to hear others’ opinions.
MY REPLY
I suppose I’d be classified as an elder.
You may not have noticed that we had a book of legal interpretations in 1995 that had been valid since 1973. We had access to GOOD advice. The Public Service defied the precedents of 30 years of interpretation. Hence, they made a lot of mistakes and invented lot of stuff which you may think is “correct”-
In the last ten years, we have had at least four revisions:
Explanatory notes 1,
Explanatory Notes 2,
When Words are not Enough. 3.
And now the latest
“Guidelines for celebrants” 4 –
which, the first time I opened it, I saw a serious error (checked by my lawyer friends). (Note that the department has now nearly come back to square one, i.e 1995.).
For example, the interpretation for vows for thirty years was “as long as the words conveyed to those present that the couple were taking each other in marriage.”.
For example, on the business of names – when you boil it down, anyone can be any name they seriously choose to be. God knows how much unnecessary pain the recent erroneous interpretations have caused people.
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I wrote this article for the AFCC magazine; some really ignorant people made disparaging remarks about it – but check it out; it is important – and it is correct.
http://www.collegeofcelebrancy.com.au/pages4/Sect_48-Marriage_Act.html
Finally, may I say that I hereby cast a pox on anyone who says I am not exact with the law or that I do not advocate it in my training courses. We are all bound by the same GENUINE rules of interpretation. We are not bound by the changing legal whims of public servants who have never been celebrants.
A lot more could be said –
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Dally Messenger III
International College of Celebrancy (Est.1995) 
