Masses banned at the crem
Posted by Richard Rawlinson Priests have been instructed to stop saying Mass for the dead at crematoriums. They’ve been sent a letter by their bishops saying the order is not rejecting crematoriums but aims to bring people back into churches. Priests will be able to say a short prayer at a crematorium, similar to a […]
A C of E funeral
To Salisbury and the funeral of the mother of two friends. The venue is the cathedral, no less. We get there in good time, but not good enough: the place is almost full and we forage for a seat at the back. Who’s the celeb who died, you ask. No one you’ve heard of. Andrea […]
Who is mimicking who?
Posted by Richard Rawlinson Two seasonal events coming up: the Nine Lessons and Carols is a traditional Christmas Eve ceremony, the most famous and widely broadcast being the service from King’s College, Cambridge; and Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People, is showing for 10 nights in December at London’s Bloomsbury Theatre. A rationalist celebration of […]
Funerals must address dreams, too
In an excellent article in the Christian Century, the Rev Samuel Wells, an American, describes taking a British funeral. There are lessons here for clergy, funeral celebrants and undertakers. And so it was that I was called to preside at the funeral of Michael. Michael had had a difficult life. He had Duchenne muscular dystrophy. […]
Driven to distraction?
Posted by Vale I am a celebrant of the tribe of IOCF (lapsed). We have a short creed that describes a Civil Funeral, it goes: A Civil Funeral is driven by the wishes, beliefs and values of the deceased and their family, not by the beliefs or ideology of the person conducting the funeral. It sits […]
It’s your funeral
Posted by Richard Rawlinson In recent decades the emphasis of funerals has gone from forward-looking to backward-looking. The traditional funeral marked the transition from this life to the future life beyond death. Details of the life of the dead person were less significant than the existence of the immortal soul. This eschatological approach has given way […]
Putting the Church back into funerals
In an article in Saturday’s Times Nick Jowett, Vicar and Minister of St Andrew’s Psalter Lane Anglican-Methodist Church, Sheffield, proposes ways in which the Church might recover some of its lost share of the funeral market, in particular what he terms the ‘nominal Christian’ sector. He concedes that the Church bears some responsibility for the way things […]
Lay ministers for Catholic funerals
Posted by Richard Rawlinson Due to a shortage of priestly vocations in the Archdiocese of Liverpool, Archbishop Patrick Kelly has come up with a solution that’s likely to get a mixed response: lay people presiding over Catholic funerals when priests are not available. He’s commissioned 22 lay ministers to celebrate funeral ceremonies, starting this autumn, in […]
Fictional funeral
From Benjamin Black’s latest novel of suspense, Vengeance. The scene is a funeral: “The vicar droned, his eyes fixed dreamily on a corner of the sky above the trees, a hymn was raggedly sung, someone let fall a sob that sounded like a fox’s bark.”
The Grim Biker’s on the telly
When I was asked if I would permit a crew to film a real biker’s funeral, complete with real mourners I was very cautious and indeed dubious to say the least. Funerals are not there to serve as PR opportunities so I was not keen at all, but while I was with the BBC a […]
