FUNERAL CELEBRANT

[Michelle572]

I noticed the other day a crematorium technician had started a thread inviting people to ask about his profession, and received a lot of interest.

I am a funeral celebrant, and conduct and officiate funerals, but if anyone would like to me questions about, funerals, burials, interments, memorials and scattering ashes, please feel free.

Kind regards - Michelle

I've actually thought about this as a career. How do you find the work?

I should have said, how are you finding the work? I imagine it's a difficult but rewarding job.

What happens to ashes that are not collected?

Hello Poudrenez,

i love the job, as a celebrant my job is to create a service that celebrates the life of the person. I go to the home of the family and together we create a service through their life history, poems, music and any other momento that is special to the family. I write a service, that will celebrate all that their loved one was. I officiate on the day, read out the service, and greet family and friends as they arrive. At the end of the service when the family say to me, that was lovely exactly as xxxxx would have wanted, that is when I know I chose the right job.

Hi Poudrenez,

Sorry I forgot to say, I find my work through a variety of ways, mainly a funeral director will recommend me to the family, or people find me through my website or friends and family may ask me to do the service for them, and a few occasions, I have taken a service for the husband or wife and then the husband or wife left behind has then passed away and the family have asked me to do their service. My website is www.michellemccann.co.uk
Kind regards
Michelle

Are you also a minister of religion? At my DSF’s recent funeral we had a non-religious service and a Celebrant. After the service I went back into the chapel as I’d forgotten something and found them doing a religious commital. Turns out they were also a priest.

Dear Lexilulu,

It is a difficult one, as sometimes people are too bereaved to collect them or due to death of their partner they never get collected. Mainly funeral directors will just keep them. However the National Association of Funeral Directors published guidelines stating that unclaimed ashes must be stored for at least five years, with efforts being made to locate the rightful recipient, before a funeral company could dispose of them. They will scatter them in a garden of remembrance.

I'm an atheist and quite anti religion in general but it wouldn't bother me if the humanist celebrant was also a priest etc. As long as the service they conducted was not religious when they are there in a humanist capacity. I should imagine that priests etc are well trained in dealing with the bereaved and also are used to "presenting". so in many ways would be good candidates.