Recognising the role of funeral celebrants
A year ago I officiated at my first funeral service. At the time I was studying for a Diploma in Ceremony and Celebration a Wellington based course lead by Mike Wolfram and designed to provide professional standards for funeral celebrants with a focus on ritual and grief studies. After more than 25 years working as broadcast journalist both here and overseas I had resigned in search of a more meaningful way to help people tell their stories. I personally believe that listening to the stories of those who are grieving and telling the stories of those who have died or are dying, is a crucial part of how we process loss and grief and is an essential element in the creation of any meaningful funeral rite. Looking back over the past year I'm certain I've made the right decision, I'm still telling stories but with a difference; I'm hopefully helping bereaved families by assisting to create meaningful funeral services and providing some consolation. Like most of life's big changes there have been ups and downs, particularly the drop in income - ouch! It's still unclear whether I'll be able to survive using my current business model but for the moment the benefits of the work far out weigh any concerns I might have about my first year balance sheet (that and I have an incredibly understanding wife.)
I've also been very fortunate, with a relatively small population base Christchurch can only provide enough work for a handful of professional funeral celebrants, but thanks to the generosity of other celebrants and the support of funeral directors from John Rhind I've made it through my first year. The firm's funeral directors have offered sound advice, encouragement and friendship and it's clear that without their tru
st and guidance it would have been impossible for me to make a start in the industry or survive financially. On average I've been involved with one funeral service a week over the past year which is just enough to keep my head above water when added to the other work I do as an approved marriage celebrant and occasional video biographer. I made a decision early on that I was going to focus quality and not quantity and so for me that means limiting the number of funerals I'm involved with each week, three is the most I've officiated at over a five day period and that's the maximum I'll probably want to do. Below is an analysis of my first forty funerals and the allocation of time.
‘Time’ the essential ingredient
I've been told by more experienced practitioners that I'm spending too long on each funeral
and that ma
y well be true, but based analysis above, saving time would mean reducing the amount of effort spent personalising services, talking to families and writing tributes something I'm reluctant to do. The rationale goes back to my previous experience as a journalist and is rooted in one event in particular.
The 28th of April 1995 was a dreadful day. I first learned of the Cave Creek tragedy mid afternoon, 14 young people dead, one a DOC worker and thirteen outdoor recreation students. I handled the initia
l reports from Christchurch and then flew to the West Coast where less than twenty-four hours later I was in a room with the friends and family of those who had died. I had been asked to join the families so as an outsider I might at least understand something of their overwhelming sense of grief and their love for those who had died. As their stories unfolded over the following months and during the commission of inquiry I gained a new understanding of the importance of storytelling for those experiencing grief and loss. I suppose I'm now trying to carry some of those lessons through to my work as a funeral celebrant.
The celebrant’s role
So that's the background, but not the issue. As an old storyteller and new funeral celebrant the real issue over past year has been trying to define the celebrant's role within the wider funeral industry. It seems clear that funeral celebrants fulfil an important public need and yet to me the celebrant's role seems poorly defined and somewhat marginalised. If you go to New Zealand's most authoritative website for funeral resources, the official home of the FDANZ, you'll find these words;
"Increasingly in New Zealand, there has been a demand for non-religious services and now many funeral celebrants are involved in leading funeral services. Funeral homes often work closely with celebrants and can recommend one to you. Visit www.celebranz.org.nz for more information."
Just the one paragraph from the Funeral Directors Association and it's no better on the Celebrant Association's website which might be expected to provide some in depth information. There's no specific description of a funeral celebrants role at all other than generalised statements like;
"Celebrants will provide a style of service that recognises the unique personalities of those with whom they work, being sensitive to their needs, wishes, values, philosophical and spiritual beliefs and cultural background."
The best information I've found to date comes from the book ‘Last Words' (Wellington 2005) compiled by Margot Schwass and published with the help of the FDANZ. Here you learn that an increasing number of New Zealanders define themselves as non religious, more than a million in the last census, but that by no means suggests people aren't spiritual, rather that many do not identify with a single church or belief system. She notes the importance of talking as part of the death experience and that ceremonies conducted by celebrants may be
" Highly personalised their aim is both to celebrate the life of the person who has gone and to provide healing and a sense of closure for those who loved them. "
"An estimated 60 percent of funerals in New Zealand are conducted by professional funeral celebrants."
Some good factual information; a funeral service delivered by a professional celebrant is often highly personalised and aims to provide consolation. And at least sixty-percent of funerals are conducted by funeral celebrants. Now that figure is five or more years out of date, so with a rough calculation of say 29,000 deaths in New Zealand each year, multiply that by say an average cost per funeral of $7,000 = $203 million. 60 percent of $203 million is $121.8 million, which gives you a conservative estimate of the value of funerals now involving celebrants. Based on those figures I feel safe in assuming that funeral celebrants are fulfilling a very real public need and that personalised funeral services are enhancing the reputation of funeral companies and the funeral industry as a whole. Indeed providing a meaningful ‘funeral service' is now an integral part of the marketing strategy of many funeral companies and yet the work done by funeral celebrants seems to be barely mentioned. As far as I can see funeral celebrants receive no professional recognition, have no voice within the industry and survive predominantly on the recommendation of funeral directors. Now that mightn't seem like a bad thing from a funeral director's perspective but as a new funeral celebrant it all seems rather precarious; I'm financially dependent on the goodwill of others, vulnerable to winds of change (no contractual agreement) and I have no professional status or representation within the industry I work.
True partnership
A degree of uncertainty is part and parcel of being freelance contractor, but it shouldn't be the dominant factor, as I mentioned earlier I've been fortunate to build a professional working relationship with a leading Christchurch firm based on what is mutual trust and respect. I suppose I've become part of the extended family at John Rhind and that has given me a much-needed sense of financial security and peer support, in return staff have the guarantee of professionalism, loyalty and recommendation. Yet when look beyond my own personal circumstances and view the role of funeral celebrants nationally I do still wonder about the future.
When I began training as a civil celebrant I assumed that there was reasonably clear delineation between the role of the celebrant and funeral directors and that as a civil celebrant, like a member of the clergy I conducted the funeral services with the help and logistical support of funeral directors who of course also handle a multitude of other tasks involved with funeral arrangements and the disposition of deceased. (This assumption seems to be confirmed by Margot Schwass when she describes the role of a funeral director in the book "Last Words".) Yet looking at some funeral company websites and marketing you could easily be mistaken for believing the work of celebrants is actually carried out by funeral directors. As I've mentioned many companies now focus their advertising on helping to create a meaningful funeral service, which is what I understood my job entails in fact I'm pretty sure that's what I do, if for no other reason than the feedback tells me.
- We are writing to express our sincere gratitude for your significant contribution to the funeral... It was everything we hoped for and more. We particularly appreciated the time that you and the lovely Jessie (the dog) spent with us in preparation for the service.
- Thank you again for your Eulogy to Dad. Everyone has commented on how lovely the service was. The whole tone of it was set from the start and in no small part this was due to you.
- I would like to say that I was most impressed with your handling of the funeral for Joe. You achieved the right balance (it sure is a delicate balance) and so necessary to 'get it right'.
I'm not using that feed back for self-aggrandisement but to make an important point; professional celebrants add value to your business and company's reputation and are an effective part of your team so why not acknowledge that and be upfront about the work celebrants do instead of marginalising the role with stereotypes like ‘master of ceremonies'. Now I'm sure the description is well intentioned but to my mind it is unhelpful. I spend no more than 15 percent of my time behind a rostrum or microphone or in any way acting like an MC the real work I do actually takes place before the funeral service and involves sitting with families and listening to their thoughts and feelings and then trying to reflect at least some of those within the funeral service itself. I offer resources, advice and content for services, which includes music, readings and vision when required. Within the boundaries of the funeral service I am a content advisor and a content provider. But where in the eyes of the funeral industry does the role of funeral celebrant begin and end?
I read with interest a recent Consumer's Institute report stating that the modern services offered by funeral directors include among other things "arranging details of the service" but how far does that go? Are funeral directors going to morph into pseudo-celebrants and should I therefore be re-training as a funeral director? Because if I'm now just an m.c. and it's funeral directors who arrange the details of funeral services, who's listening to the needs of grieving families? Who's going to spend time understanding their philosophical and spiritual values, who's going to spend time listening to their stories and memories, the stories of the living and the dead, the stories that give meaning and context to a person's life? The importance of the celebrant's role in this regard should not be under-estimated.
Finding a place to stand
From a business stand point I have some sympathy with the position funeral companies find themselves, clearly the focus of the modern funerals has been moving away from the core functions and legal responsibilities of funeral directors for some decades and that means rebranding and marketing your services towards what matters to an increasing number of people and that I would suggest is a personalised funeral service offering an authentic experience. But with funeral companies now selling pre arranged funerals worth millions of dollars every year how do you guarantee a meaningful funeral service? Yes as a funeral company you can say we arrange the ‘details of funeral services' the nuts and bolts, but not I'd argue a meaningful funeral service. Why? Well I'd suggest that whether pre-arranged or not the funeral service is rite for those left behind, the survivors, and their needs can only be met and understood once a death has occurred. Yes, you might be able to pre-plan a liturgy based religious ceremony where the content doesn't change and beliefs are agreed, yes you can learn what the deceased liked in terms of music and readings. But you cannot create a meaningful personalised funeral service where those who grieve are allowed full expression and involvement in the planning and content unless you're going to proscribe their input. Which brings me back to the importance of a professional partnership between funeral directors funeral celebrants. Even if funeral companies don't directly employ celebrants they remain a significant part of the industry work force and while recommendation allows funeral directors to exert considerable control over both celebrants and public choice, no one actually owns the funeral service - it belongs to the bereaved.
A new professional Institute
For a newcomer, you may think that I've made some rather direct or even provocative statements but my hope is that this article will prompt robust debate focusing on the need for funeral celebrant's to be brought in from cold and recognised as an integral part of the funeral industry. Looking at the front of the Funeralcare Magazine it reads ‘the magazine of the New Zealand Funeral Profession' and then it has the logos for the FDANZ, The Embalmers association and the FSTT, what I'd like to see added to those another logo representing the PFCA or the Professional Funeral Celebrants Association of New Zealand or perhaps the ICFS The Institute of Civil Funeral Services. If you haven't heard of either organisation don't worry they don't exist, but it's my hope that something similar will be formed in the near future and will be given equal status with specialist groups now sheltering under the broad umbrella of the funeral profession. An example can be found in the United Kingdom, which has a Professional Institute for Civil Funerals www.iocf.org.uk. The institute sets professional standards for the accreditation of funeral celebrants and operates in conjunction with funeral directors when assessing membership criteria. It is clear to me that just as embalmers are a specific sub set of professionals working within the funeral industry, so too are professional funeral celebrants and it makes little sense to suggest otherwise.
Facing the future
Over recent decades funeral directors have assumed many of the logistical functions that were once the sole domain of the church. Funeral companies now have their own chapels, organists and musicians, audio and visual equipment and celebrants. That is meeting market demands and clearly makes good business sense - but once you start advertising that you help families create a meaningful funeral service haven't you crossed the Rubicon? Aren't you now suggesting you're a de facto celebrant or members of the clergy? It's a marketing strategy that impacts not only on celebrants and the church but the public and their ability to choose.
It's one of the main reasons I believe funeral celebrants must now seek to clearly define their role and formalise their position within the funeral industry. I can certainly see that re branding funeral celebrants ‘m.c.' is useful tool if you're trying to exercise control over the content and arrangement of funeral services, but I'd suggest it's a high-risk strategy that could easily backfire.
I personally have no desire to take on the funeral industry indeed I think it would be counter-productive to try. My desire is to see funeral celebrants working in genuine partnership with funeral directors as stakeholders within the industry. But here's the concern, there's another generation behind me ‘gen-x' who may not be as conciliatory in their approach. If there's one sure way to promote the development of Celebrant's Chapels in major cities throughout New Zealand in competition with funeral directors it is to exclude funeral celebrants from genuine partnership and participation within the industry they work.
Conclusion
Without exception I've found the funeral directors I've worked with to be true professionals, good people who are genuinely concerned and involved with their client's best interests at heart. If this is indicative of the funeral industry as a whole you should be very proud of your people and the work they do. But here's the bottom line do you feel the same way about funeral celebrants? Do you see them as genuine partners in the funeral industry or are they just another commodity, like caskets or candles?