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Memorial Funeral Service Options
By Michael D Johnson, Sr.
Funeral service options Popular options for remembrance
services include the following:
o Religious: This type of funeral may follow the rituals
and ceremonies of any religion or particular
denomination of a religion. The funeral may be held in a
place of worship or funeral chapel and is characterized
by the emphasis on the beliefs of the deceased
concerning the after life. A clergyman usually conducts
the service, and there can be prayers, readings, and
music.
o Nonreligious: A semiformal service conducted by family
or friends prior to or after final disposition. It
highlights the personality, history, and remembrances of
the deceased. This may be held in any location with the
body present (a commemorative service) or without the
body present (memorial service.) The service usually
highlights various speakers and mayor may not have music
or readings. This service is often called a celebration
of life, and pictures, mementos, and memorabilia may be
shown.
o Family gathering: An informal gathering any time after
final disposition. It can be held in any location and
focuses on remembrance of the deceased as part of the
family circle. There is no formal program. It may also
occur when the ashes are scattered.
o Private Service: Any type of service that limits the
attendance to members of the family and invited guests.
Graveside service: The service is held at the graveside
or the place of the final disposition rather than
gathering at a church, chapel, or other facility.
Burial on land
Although cremation has grown in popularity over the past
30 years, burial is still final disposition of choice
for most people in North America. Almost 75 percent in
the United States and 58 percent in Canada choose burial
over other options. Some people argue that we are
running out of space in cemeteries. This may be true in
the urban centers but space exists to continue burials
in smaller centers or in rural areas. For some people,
there is a family plot or a cemetery containing the
remains of family members.
Burial At Sea
Burial at sea For centuries, burial at sea was a
necessity as well as a ritual. A slow ship is no place
to keep a decomposing body, especially in warmer
climates. Today, traditional burial at sea has taken on
a new and innovative approach. With the increase in
cremations, some people request their remains be
scattered on water. This is an established practice in
cremation. However, it is now possible for a body to be
buried at sea, as in the past, or to inter remains in an
urn or special biodegradable container and cast these
into the sea. There are special burial-at-sea services
on both coasts of North America. Areas of sea bottom
have been set aside for these urns and, in time, form
part of an artificial reef. The cost is considerably
lower than ground burial options.
There are three major types of service:
o Witnessed: Family or friends may accompany the remains
for a committal service. The coordinates of the site are
given so that the site may be revisited.
o Unwitnessed: The captain and crew make the committal.
o Aerial dispersal: An unaccompanied flight during which
ashes are scattered at sea at least three miles from
shore. The United States Navy Mortuary Affairs conducts
programs from six different centers. These burials at
sea are performed on us Navy vessels while they are
deployed and, therefore, family members are not
permitted to attend the committals. The date, time, and
the longitude and a strong shift in public attitudes
toward cremation. Cremation has long been the choice for
many other parts of the world. Available statistics from
Japan (97 percent), Great Britain (70 percent), and
Scandinavia (65 percent), show a preference for
cremation over burial.
In North America a number of factors have contributed to
the rising popularity of cremation:
o The potentially lower cost
o Changing personal and spiritual beliefs
o Simplicity and convenience
o Acceptance by many religions
o Environmental concerns
o Dispersed families with no central family location
choosing cremation do not alter the possibilities of
friends and families conducting services, but reduces
the focus on the physical presence of a body at those
services. All options for remembrance remain open.
Cremation does offer potentially greater savings on the
total cost of a funeral. The purchase of a casket,
burial vault, cemetery plot, and grave opening and
closing charges can be eliminated, and even if a
monument is bought, it is usually smaller and less
expensive. The casket is the major merchandise purchase
involved in a traditional funeral or funeral with a
burial. Even if you choose viewing and body preparation
as part of your funeral plan you can, in many funeral
homes, now rent a casket. This type of casket is exactly
the same as a regular casket, but the body is placed in
a liner. When the viewing or service has been completed,
the end of the casket is removed and the body and the
liner slide out. This liner can then be placed in a
cremation container and the casket returns to the
display room of the funeral home. This rental casket
concept is one of the newest and most unusual
innovations in funeral merchandising and marketing.
Remember that many family members may be uncomfortable
with the idea of cremation. Understand and acknowledge
this while making your own preference known. There is
also a small but growing preference for direct disposal
with no remembrance service. This can be done with a
burial but is more common with cremation. Once the body
is cremated, the question of disposition of the ashes
still remains.
A number of options exist:
o Burial (in some cases this may be done in a plot
already containing a body)
o Placing the urn in a columbarium
o Placing an urn in a residence
o Scattering the ashes
Cremation frees the remains to be dealt with in ways
that are not possible when the body is retained in its
original form. Ashes need not be scattered or spread in
one specific spot. Ashes may even be divided among
family members if so desired. They can also be retained
or distributed at different locations. Many people now
leave specific instructions regarding the scattering of
their ashes. Ash scattering may be the most popular
method of final disposition, and I am amazed at the
unique and often unusual places chosen to scatter ashes.
The ashes can be placed somewhere that was important to
the deceased. This is yet another form of remembrance.
Ashes may also be buried in a container.
In any case, should you or any of your family choose
cremation, the benefits would include
o no need to buy a new plot,
o reduced opening and closing charges,
o no need for a casket or burial vault, and
o the opportunity for more family members to be buried
in one location. These points now become factors in
planning my funeral statement on final disposition. It
should also be noted that ashes are purified and
therefore pose no environmental hazard.
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