The consolations of a Catholic funeral
Here’s an extract from good and powerful piece in the Catholic Herald by Siri Abrahamson In the midst of a grey, damp winter, at the end of a healthy and normal pregnancy, our second child, a daughter, dies at birth. Despite 20 minutes of attempted resuscitation in the delivery room, she never draws breath outside […]
A cortège of daughters
A cortege of daughters A quite ordinary funeral: the corpse Unknown to the priest. The twenty-third psalm. The readings by serious businessmen One who nearly tripped on the unaccustomed pew. The kneelers and the sitters like sheep and goats. But by some prior determination a row Of daughters and daughters-in-law rose To act as pall-bearers […]
Quote of the week
James Horwill, the Australia rugby captain, puts the World Cup semi-finals into perspective. Before every match, he winds white tape around his left forearm and writes two names on it with a black marker pen, Macca and Ponto. They were his close friends of his from childhood who, a week before he was due to […]
Who are the real rotters here?
Is this a Welsh thing, or is it beginning to happen all over the UK? In Wales, according to a BBC news article, the number of public health funerals is alleged to have doubled in a decade. This is contradicted by the view of the Local Government Association. In a survey dated 2010 it reports: […]
Meet St Pancras
St Pancras was beheaded in 304 during Diocletian’s persecution when he was only 14 years old. His skeleton was clothed in armour in 1777. He now resides at the Church of St Nikolaus in Wil, Switzerland.
Are you in or out?
It’s not often that you see a funeral entrepreneur on Dragon’s Den, but last night’s show shone a brief spotlight on an enterprise which, in an industry unaccustomed to innovation, is likely to elicit responses ranging from ‘It’ll never work’ to ‘Tcha.’ Theo Paphitis ruled himself straight out, no messing. But it turns out that […]
Britain’s second favourite undertaker
Here are some up-to-date headline stats on Dignity plc, the brand that dares not speak its name. Valued at £460m Average earnings growth of around 15% over the past five years. Growth is forecast to be at a similar level in the current year and 11% in 2012. Debt stands at £319 million, up from […]
What Makes Funeral Celebrants Do It?
From a practising funeral celebrant, more opinionated stuff that possibly needs a health warning: it’s only what I think. I’m not really sure why we do it – I’m sure we have many very different conscious reasons and less self-aware motivations. As Freud, Jung, Adler and Frankl all said, or if they didn’t, they should […]
Cash for corpses 2
You heard it on the news? You read it in your newspaper? The Nuffield Council on Bioethics has published a report calling on the government to find out of people like the idea of getting a free funeral in exchange for donating their organs. Professor Dame Marilyn Strathern, of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, says: […]
Bereavement Counselling in the NHS (Taking the sting out of death)
Posted by Vale Pat is a Bereavement Counsellor working in an NHS Trust hospital. Her job is to help people affected by a death in a hospital, supporting them through their grieving. Pat is the subject of a long article inSaturday’s Guardian. It can be found here. It’s a heartening read. Death in a hospital […]
