Packet- The Funeral Flashcards
1
Q
- Today’s perceptions
- A vital tool in the process of grief
- “Don’t take my grief away from me. I deserve it and I am going to have it.”
A
The Value of the Funeral
2
Q
- Funeral is plastic, barbaric
- Expensive
- Sophisticated people “above the need for a public expression of grief.”
A
Today’s Perceptions
3
Q
- Funeral directors must move from professional arranger to a friend in need.
- Funeral director must be comfortable with tears.
- Never adopt the attitude when designing a funeral to “keep the family under control.”
- The response to the question, “won’t it make the family cry?” should be “I hope so.”
A
The Funeral Home- A Safe Place
4
Q
A good funeral director by his/her ______ lets people know it’s going to be okay.
A
Presence
5
Q
- Family involvement in more than merchandise
- The family needs involvement
- This is a way of showing love
- Helps face reality
- Draws the family into the process.
A
Participation
6
Q
- When words fail, ceremony takes over
- Symbols- someting which stands for something else.
- Flowers as symbols that a person was loved.
A
Symbols and Ceremony
7
Q
Something which stands for something else.
A
Symbol
8
Q
- The importance of the viewing
- The value of good embalming and restorative art
A
Reality and Closure
9
Q
- Need to establish significance to move on
- Never trivialize
- Platitudes
- Try to explain the hurt away
- Funeral establishes person and social significance.
A
Significance
10
Q
- his suffering is over
- she is in a better place
- God will not put on us more than we can bear
A
Examples of Platitudes
11
Q
- The funeral must become a relevant, meaningful experience.
- A nation that does not honor its dead will ultimately lose its reverence for life.
- The importance of the cemetery- a place set apart.
- Is it cost? No. Average cost of a funeral is $7,000; average wedding $25,000. Nobody blinks at the cost of a wedding.
- We in the funeral service must tell our story.
- Establishing the significance.
A
If the Truths About our Reverence for the Dead are so Evident, why the Movement from the Traditional Funeral?
12
Q
- Old loyalties to the funeral home the family has always used are gone.
- “Hassles for the family.”
A
The Scattered Society
13
Q
- Resistance to change on the part of funeral service
- Clergy and funeral directors need to be trained to deliver a better product
- The “Cookie cutter” funeral- people deserve better.
- Become funeral Directors- not just “well, that’s what the family wanted…”
A
An Outdated Product
14
Q
- Sometimes the clergy can be a problem.
- Would the clergy like that?- they do not sign the check, it is up to the director to do what the family has requested.
- Can sometimes be a celebrant if the family is not religious.
- Sometimes the funeral director can take on the role of the celebrant
A
The Role of the Clergy
15
Q
- Requires a radical change in our thinking and funeral practices.
- What can we offer the over 50% of the families who are not religious?
A
The Challenge of Changing Religious Patterns
