Exeter
College became the love capital of Oxford on Saturday
morning when a number of the college’s Freshers got married to one another.The
ceremony was conducted by ‘Father’ Chris Beaumont and ‘Father’ Henry Taysom,
both of whom are priests of the Universal Life Church of California, as well as
being students at the College.They
received their calling into the priesthood via the ‘instant ordination’ link
on the church’s website just under two weeks ago. Saturday’s wedding service,
which saw more than thirty couples tie the knot, is their first since joining
the ‘clergy’. Each couple will receive a certificate which officially registers
their marriage in the church. Father
Beaumont said, “If we had been in California
all we would need to do is to obtain the consent of the state senator, and the
marriage would have actually been legally binding!”The
University Life Church of California is well established in the USA. The church
is said to take a liberal stance on such issues as same sex marriages and
bigamy.However,
while the exchanged matrimonial vows might be legally binding in the newly
wedded Exonians are only bound to remain together as college parents to their
college children – that is, the Freshers arriving next year.Father Taysom stated, “The honeymoon starts now. I should
therefore expect all husbands to be fulfilling their matrimonial duty of
playing with their wives. ARCHIVE: 6th week MT 2005
Exeter mass wedding bliss
