What's the difference between a religious and a non-religious funeral service in Australia?
Answered bySarah CorbetteHead of FuneralsWatch · 1:02A religious funeral follows the person’s faith and is generally led by clergy. A non-religious service is often led by a celebrant and can focus on the person’s life, music and memories. Sarah Corbette explains that families can also include prayers or scripture without choosing a full religious service. The venue and person leading the ceremony should suit the family’s beliefs and preferences. Discuss the balance you want with the funeral arranger so they can help find an appropriate celebrant or faith representative.
For related guidance, see What should families expect when working with a funeral director for the first time?.
Read the video transcript
A religious service is based on faith, whether that's going to be at a church or another religious location that is generally managed by the clergy of that church. And when it comes to a non-religious service, they are usually held at a memorial park chapel like this here and with a celebrant officiating. Some people do like to have even though they don't want a particular church service like to have some religious elements like prayers or scriptures in the service. So we always like to arrange for the celebrant to match the families. So we do have celebrants that we work with that are pastors or pastors' wives or been in ministry before. So they're able to bring that reflection without it actually being a full religious service.
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