Happy Holidays to All!
I realize that we are all super busy this time of the year, with the holidays, year end, and all sorts of tasks tugging away at us, so I’ll keep it short for now.
I’d just like to update you on a couple of items from recent history and some coming up in early 2023.
• First of all, my celebrant and celebrancy course will leap into the new year with an updated curriculum and some very exciting additions. Personalization of deathcare services, memorials, and celebrations of life can and should include cherished elements of tradition, and I’ll show participants how. We’ll start by learning what tradition actually is and move on to the details from there.
• Second, I’m starting a new program of funeral service ratings using a system I have developed that covers a number of important aspects of funeral services, both the funeral home and staff as well as officiant and celebrant performances. It’s impossible to do an evaluation or rate a service if you don’t know what you’re actually evaluating or rating, so I provide key items with definitions to help. The system can be used by both the consumer and deathcare professionals; it’s that comprehensive and that versatile (that’s one of the items we evaluate, by the way, versatility). I’ll announce the launch in early January 2023.
• Third, cremation and aquamation are generally poorly understood by most people, including many funeral directors and staff. The short shrift that cremation gets in mortuary science courses and in texts like “Fires of Change: A Comprehensive Examination of Cremation” (Fritch & Altieri (2015)) just doesn’t cut it when it comes to understanding the practice and its cultural implications. I intend to fix that defect.
• Fourth, I will be covering the question of how far funeral directors can or should go in giving clients what they want (this can be read bidirectionally) or what they ask for, rather than what they need or ought to be askin
Happy Holidays to All!
I realize that we are all super busy this time of the year, with the holidays, year end, and all sorts of tasks tugging away at us, so I’ll keep it short for now.
I’d just like to update you on a couple of items from recent history and some coming up in early 2023.
• First of all, my ℂ𝕖𝕝𝕖𝕓𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕤 & ℂ𝕖𝕝𝕖𝕓𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕪 course will leap into the new year with an updated curriculum and some very exciting additions. Personalization of deathcare services, memorials, and celebrations of life can and should include cherished elements of tradition, and I’ll show participants how. We’ll start by learning what tradition actually is and move on to the details from there.
• Second, I’m starting a new program of 𝔽𝕦𝕟𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕫𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟, 𝕊𝕖𝕣𝕧𝕚𝕔𝕖, & 𝔽𝕦𝕟𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕝 ℍ𝕠𝕞𝕖 ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 using a system I have developed that covers a number of important aspects of funeral services, both the funeral home and staff as well as officiant and celebrant performances. It’s impossible to do an evaluation or rate a service if you don’t know what you’re actually evaluating or rating, so I provide key items with definitions to help. The system can be used by both the consumer and deathcare professionals; it’s that comprehensive and that versatile (that’s one of the items we evaluate, by the way, versatility). I’ll announce the launch in early January 2023.
• Third, 𝘾𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 & 𝘼𝙦𝙪𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 are generally poorly understood by most people, including many funeral directors and staff. The short shrift that cremation gets in mortuary science courses and in texts like “Fires of Change: A Comprehensive Examination of Cremation” (Fritch & Altieri (2015)) just doesn’t cut it when it comes to understanding the practice and its cultural implications. I inte
![“[C]remation is an inadequate way of disposing of the dead because it entails the destruction of community memory, and, ...](https://img5.evepla.com/155/415/212235571554152.jpg)
