Annual Meeting Recorded Sessions

The Funeral as Social Stabilizer

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Death rituals, present in virtually all societies, change very slowly, with many ritual components dating back centuries and even millennia. Death rituals allow both the immediate family and the social community to each express its stories of the deceased's life. With a push toward personalization in western funerals, it is possible to risk losing the social-stabilizing effects of predictable socially-sanctioned rituals. This presentation reviews historical roots of death rituals and critically examines how to manage conflict between private family decisions and community needs.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe the historical and socio-cultural values of death rituals.
2. Compare needs of the mourning immediate family with those of the mourning social group, especially when the death was unexpected.
3. Create personalized death rituals that also meet social and community mourning needs.

About your instructor:

Presenter: William G. Hoy, DMin, FT is an educator and professional counselor with more than 25 years of experience working with bereaved people. He directs the counseling program for Pathways Volunteer Hospice and provides continuing education workshops to more than 75 audiences every year across North America. In addition to more than 100 articles and educational pamphlets, he is also the author of Road to Emmaus: Pastoral Care with the Dying and Bereaved and Guiding People through Grief.

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Updated: April 20, 2010