The right of Barry Young to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patent Act 1988.
© Barry Young 2008
This Edition 2018
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
The funeral celebrant’s handbook.
By Barry H Young.
First Published by JoJo Publishing 2012
This edition published by Woodslane Press 2018
No part of this printed or video publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electrical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher and copyright owner:
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication data
Young, Barry H
The funeral celebrant’s handbook
ISBN 978-0-9872975-2-5 (ePub.)
Subjects:
Funeral rites and ceremonies—Handbooks, manuals, etc.
393.9
Editor: Emma Driver
Designer / typesetter: Rob Ryan @ Z Design Media
Digital Distribution: Ebook Alchemy
Review
“Funeral Celebrants, with a personal approach to funeral service, are taking off in the United States. As our numbers grow, so does the interest in pursuing celebrancy as a second career.
A new book from Australia, "The Funeral Celebrant's Handbook: Creating services that celebrate life and mourn death," is a good start for anyone considering work as a celebrant.
"The Funeral Celebrant's Handbook" is written by Australian Civil Funeral Celebrant Barry H. Young, who has been conducting funerals since 1998.
For the U.S. market, people are in great need of information and I am asked through phone calls and e-mails every week for book recommendations on the Celebrant's process of meeting with the family and planning a funeral service. Young's book offers an introduction that will especially appeal to the U.S. masses that are searching for a greater understanding of celebrancy and the Celebrant's role in the funeral. To have a broader understanding of how Celebrants conduct services in other countries is an asset for every U.S. Celebrant.
Young covers topics including the basics such as the Celebrant's responsibilities, types of ceremonies, conducting funerals, to a review of the Celebrant's role and meeting the bereaved. He also offers some sample services, which offer an interesting approach. Clearly, Young has experienced funeral service dealing with a variety of losses from murder to suicide to infant death. While Young offers ideas and support for what a person faces as a Celebrant, he clearly realizes each funeral will be different.
As an active Funeral Celebrant in the United States, I never prepare anything until I meet the family. I find that the family offers the lead and approach for the funeral service as most of my grieving families come to me with a vision already in mind. I provide guidance and research a life story, but the heart of the service always comes from the family because the funeral belongs to them.
"The Funeral Celebrant's Handbook" gives the reader a taste of what he or she will face as an active Celebrant.
In preparing your eulogy, Young advises Celebrants to "prepare a eulogy as though there will be no other speakers at the ceremony."
This is excellent advice for the novice, because early in the process I discovered there are family members who will say, "I will handle the eulogy. You can introduce me." To make sure I am well organized, I always keep in touch with my families through e-mails and phone calls so we don't duplicate stories. What I have found is that word "eulogy" is often a broad term for those who are grieving. Even when a family says, "Cousin Betsy will handle the eulogy," you never know how much or how little they will share until you know exactly what they're going to say. A prepared Celebrant needs to have a full eulogy written. I once had a family member write a eulogy that was only a few lines long, when I was told in advance that it would be twenty minutes in length. Twenty minutes of story telling is a long time and requires a lot of attention for those who are grieving. Preparation is key and Young reminds the Celebrant to do their job no matter what.
Young also offers samples of services. This is a great gift to anyone considering becoming a Celebrant or for an active Celebrant. If I could have a sample service from every Celebrant in the world, I would collect them. The wider variety of services we read, the better we can serve families. I truly believe we have to share information with each other as we learn on the job because there are generations of Celebrants coming behind us who will be serving the future of families. I'm truly proud of Young for including his samples to help others who are writing their first or 100th funeral service. While every Celebrant writes in a different style, using different themes, poems or words, the heart of the service still has to capture the life lived.
One of the stories I really liked was a tale that Young used for a memorial service, which was about a famous tenor who vowed to stop singing after his wife died. Young shows through storytelling that the singer allowed grief to dictate his life and he offered a powerful message for the annual service.
Personally, I think it's important to conduct annual memorial services at funeral homes. There are so many people who are grieving who do not belong to a church or organization that offers support around the holidays. At these memorial services, I meet so many people who simply want to share their stories of loss. In fact, I stay for hours after the gathering and listen to everything that grieving families want to tell me. If they need a shoulder to cry on, I will stay and dry their tears or cry with them. It is part of what I do as a Celebrant.
For active Funeral Celebrants, this book reminds us that we are not alone in the process of helping those who are facing loss.
The bottom line: Young's book stresses how important it is to listen to someone who is grieving. Celebrants have a great responsibility and the more information we gather through continuing education from Celebrants around the world, the better we can help each family.
For anyone in the United States who is considering becoming a Celebrant, I can recommend you read "The Funeral Celebrant's Handbook." As Celebrants, we can certainly learn from each other and hopefully, this book will spur more in depth books from active Civil Funeral Celebrants around the world.”
Review compiled by Pam Vetter ‘The Funeral Lady’ ©, American Chronicle article
Testimonials
‘The Funeral Celebrant’s Handbook’ – author, Barry H. Young:
“When I started reading this book I literally couldn’t put it down. In my work as a funeral celebrant and national trainer of funeral celebrants, I had finally found a practical and heartfelt journal that will truly make a difference to how people approach funeral ceremonies. What Barry has done is write a book that is also Australian at heart. Through my research internationally on funeral texts I can wholeheartedly say that internationally funeral celebrants will enjoy reading and using some of Barry’s ideas to make warm and loving ceremonies for families. Congratulations to Barry Young.”
Elisabeth O’Brien Director Australian Celebrations Training a celebrant training company
If only this