Why the heck is a Universal Life Church ordination certificate on our travel blog?
“Sherman, set the WABAC Machine for 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.“
Back in 2021, we were well over a year into the great COVID-19 lockdown that had erased three scheduled 2020 trips from our travel plans, and had made any future travel planning almost pointless. One of those cancelled trips was to visit family in Australia; due to the cancellation of our 2020 trip we missed our granddaughter’s second birthday, and by the time that July 2021 rolled around we’d missed her third birthday too! By then, Canada’s vaccination rate was among the leaders in the world, but Australia’s was one of the lowest (in first world nations). Instead they were relying upon a strict policy of keeping their borders shut.
However, Australia’s border was not completely shut! There were a limited number of exemptions available to circumvent the closed door border policy, and one of those was a religious exemption that (in theory) would allow visits:
The official wording from the Australian Department of Home Affairs and the Australian Border Force (ABF) specifically classified eligible religious workers under the following inbound exemption category: “Critical skills to Australia’s COVID-19 response or economic recovery (such as medical, essential goods and services, religion and theology, and entertainment)”
Wally, the lazy engineer from Scott Adam’s “Dilbert” cartoons used to say that “Every problem has an engineering solution.”. So, in July 2021 one of us (“Reverend Ross”!) became an ordained minister in the Universal Life Church and submitted our application to the Australia Border Force for an inbound travel exemption to “preach the gospel of vaccination”. Not unsurprisingly, no exemption was granted…..😇.
In the end, everything worked out:
- We did somehow manage one international trip in late 2021 (see our Bahamas page).
- We did make it to Australia by 2022 for our granddaughter’s fourth birthday, and on that same trip, the birth of our first grandson.
Since 2023, we have been able to travel to Australia normally again; no special permissions (religious or otherwise) required. We’re looking forward to another trip Down Under again this year.
And the arrival of the ULC 5-Year Commemorative Ordination Certificate reminded us that five years ago today “Reverend Ross” became an ordained minister!