Who Can Conduct a Funeral Service?

Conducting funeral services at Roanoke, VA funeral homes is one of the choices that a family has to make, unless the deceased chose a person in advance, when a loved one dies. This is a significant decision because the person who will conduct the funeral service will oversee, guide, and speak during the service. You will want someone who knew your loved one very well because the funeral service traditionally is a testimony to and the story of a life that mattered. 

Clergy members are often chosen to conduct funeral services for the deceased. However, unless the pastor or priest knew the deceased well, these services can leave the family and mourners with a cold, impersonal feeling, instead of a warm and comfortable feeling. So, if you chose a clergy member, choose someone who actually knew them and was even friends with them. 

Some religious denominations have a set order for funeral services that is followed (such as the funeral mass in the Catholic Church), while other religious denominations include scriptural readings and/or a short sermon in the funeral service, but other readings and eulogies and music comprise the majority of the service. When clergy conduct a funeral service, there is almost always a prayer for the family at the end of the service. 

If the deceased was not religious or did not belong to any religious denomination, but the family wants a religious service for them, the family should talk with the clergy member at their place of worship. Some religious denominations will not conduct a funeral service for non-members while other religious denominations will. 

Clergy members who are close to the family and/or the deceased will also, importantly, provide follow-up comfort and support after the funeral service. They will visit, ask about and see to needs, provide spiritual guidance, and simply be there when the family needs them to be. 

A close friend of the deceased or the family can conduct a funeral service. If neither the deceased nor the family had any religious affiliation, this may be the choice they make. It doesn't mean that there may not be religious aspects to the service – because, interestingly, even people with no religious affiliation often find comfort in grief from scriptures and hymns – but the service is primarily designed for the comforting, encouragement, and support of the family. 

The friend that's chosen will work with the family to set what should be included in the service and the order of each part. This needs to be done in conjunction with the funeral director, who will be responsible for the overall setup and execution of the funeral service. 

A family member can conduct the funeral service. That can include you. The reality is that anyone can conduct a funeral service. However, oftentimes immediate family members are in no shape emotionally to conduct a funeral service. Just being there and going through the funeral process can be exhausting and difficult. To try to guide an entire funeral surface will be virtually impossible.

However, other family members, such as uncles and cousins may have enough emotional distance to want to and be able to conduct a funeral service. Again, any plans should include the funeral director so that everything about the funeral service goes off smoothly in honoring your loved one. 

If you want to learn more conducting funeral services at Roanoke, VA funeral homes, our compassionate and experienced staff at Conner-Bowman Funeral Home & Crematory can help. You can come by our funeral home at 62 Virginia Market Place Dr., Rocky Mount, VA, 24151 or you can contact us today at (540) 334-5151.The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.