Packet- Orientation to Funeral Directing Flashcards
A specialized function of organization and direction of a memorial to a personality according to custom and tradition of the community and in compliance with state law.
Contemporary Funeral Service
Serve the living by caring for their dead in some dignified fashion.
Purpose of a Funeral Service
- Good physical health
- Good moral fiber
- Objective attitude toward death
- Introspective
- Must not reflect the stereotypical undertaker
- Strict confidentiality
- Sincere desire to serve the public and a sense of pride and personal satisfaction
- Must have a normal social life
Characteristics of a Good Funeral Director
To be able to endure long working hours.
Good Physical Health
Supporting a solid reputation in the community that the funeral director wishes to serve.
Good Moral Fiber
Even though death is a subjective experience for most human beings….defense mechanism.
Objective Attitude Toward Death
That is to have a complete knowledge of one’s own self. This is a prerequisite to helping others.
Must be Introspective
Must have a sense of humor, a well-developed personality.
Must not Reflect the Stereotypical Undertaker
When dealing with the public, especially during the arrangement conference.
Strict Confidentiality
Never be ashamed of being a funeral director. Be passionate and proud in funeral service.
Must have a Sincere Desire to Serve the Public and a Sense of Pride and Personal Satisfaction
Must get away from funeral service occasionally.
Must Have a Normal Social Life
The primary purpose is to service the living. This is a service industry, not a business. The merchandising of funeral goods will always be secondary to service.
Funeral Service Purpose
It is inborn in the human person; almost instinctive that society has some kind of ceremony or ritual at the time of death and some form of disposition, religious or otherwise.
No Society Worth the Name Society has ever left their dead where they died.
Based on dignity and tradition usually associated with some form of organized religion. Even those that have rejected organized religion have embraced some form of humanistic eithic that extends dignity to the disposition of loved ones.
The Ritual of Funeral Service is Universal
This percentage of people today have no church affiliation and the number is growing.
50%
An opportunity for the bereaved to accept the reality of death. It meets certain basic needs of the community, especially the bereaved.
Funeral Service Provides:
- Provides the bereaved with a period of gradual transition
- Provides an opportunity for the bereaved to express emotion.
- Provides and opportunity for the bereaved to receive the comfort and solace of religious or humanistic belief.
What is the need Fulfiled by Contemporary Funeral Service?
In which they gradually bridge the gap from death back to life, to normalcy. In the future, for a funeral to survive had have meaning, it must become a personalized experience.
Provides the Bereaved with a Period of Gradual Transition
A way to honor the life and person of the deceased which will allow the family to grieve and give significance to a life that has been lost. The funeral director will be called upon to take a more active role.
Personalized Experience
Resonable expression of grief is healthy. The therapeutic value of the funeral home experience is that it is a facility where one can let out their emotions. The grief work process is resolving grief over three stages.
Provides an Opportunity for the Bereaved to Express Emotion
- Normalcy
- Death
- Normalcy
Three Stages of Resolving Grief
For most of society, the funeral is still basically a religious experience, but becoming less so, the exception being the African American experience.
Provides an opportunity for the bereaved to receive the comfort and solace of religious or humanistic belief.
- The public views the funeral director and clergy as equal partners in funeral service.
- Every religion promises some kind of afterlife.
Religion and its Relation to Funeral Service