Become a Funeral Celebrant: Celebrants, develop your skill set

Funeral Course

Join the
Funeral  Course
with the
International College of Celebrancy
We invite you to a unique learning experience that fosters excellence in the delicate world of funeral celebrancy.

🌼 A Different Approach to Funeral Celebrancy:

Your personal tutor-examiner: Every student is allotted their own personal tutor, who will actively guide and assist you throughout the course, and out in the field, in the real world of preparing, checking, and delivering the best funeral service possible.

Commitment to Completion: We’re not just about starting; we’re all about finishing. Your dedicated tutor/guide/mentor will encourage and support you every step of the way.

Independence Matters: We’re not affiliated with funeral directors or the government. We firmly believe that funeral celebrants are independent professionals who play a vital role in honouring the person who has died.

The Ceremony Matters Most: We share a profound belief that the heart of any funeral lies in the ceremony. Our mission is to empower you to craft meaningful, unforgettable ceremonies that truly honor the person and comfort the survivors.
📝 Personalized Assessment:

Beyond the checkboxes: We go beyond mere checkboxes. Every assignment and report is meticulously reviewed and corrected by our team. Your growth is our priority.
Learning Journal: We value your feedback, and it’s an integral part of your learning journey. Our learning journal ensures a two-way dialogue for continuous improvement.

👂 The Art of Listening:

The funeral celebrant is a professional listener. We emphasise the importance of being a respectful, “professional listener.” Listening skills are essential to crafting deeply personal and meaningful ceremonies.

🎙️ Mastering the Craft:

Distinguishing Eulogies from Reminiscences: Understanding the nuances between eulogies and reminiscences is key to becoming an adept celebrant.

High Ideals and Attitudes: We encourage our students to embrace high ideals and attitudes, setting a standard of excellence.

Creative Writing and Public Speaking: While a short course cannot teach these skills in depth, we encourage you to develop skills in creative writing, public speaking, and clear diction.

Join us at The International College of Celebrancy  and embark on a journey to become a compassionate, skilled, and respected funeral celebrant. Together, we can guide you towards a level of competency that truly honours the person and comforts all those who experience deep grief. Enrol now and make a difference in the lives of others.

Personal and secular (humanist) funerals are a serious responsibility

Home they brought her warrior dead;
She nor swoon’d nor utter’d cry.
All her maidens, watching, said,
She must weep or she will die.

The Princess by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

There are a few resentments that are more intense than those that result from a badly done funeral ceremony. The memory leaves a residue of anger that can last many years, or, in some cases, a lifetime. Sadness multiplies, and grief is exacerbated.

On the other hand, as good funeral celebrants often testify, there is no task more satisfying than consoling people in deep grief. The gratitude of the survivors flows over one another.

It has always been a source of wonder to the writer that totally unqualified people think they can do this fearfully responsible work without training, thus making horrendous mistakes as they start from scratch on their journey of “victim-based” learning.

Brian McInerney, the renowned funeral celebrant, would often say, “This is the best work we do.” This module aims to assist you to do you best work.

On completing this unit, you should be able to:-

• write a competent eulogy and to construct an appropriate ceremonial framework into which it may be placed.
• understand the basic standard that the college and reputable celebrant organisations expect for funerals.
• have an in-depth knowledge of how to interview, actively listen, take notes, creatively write and carefully check the eulogy and ceremony.
• have an adequate knowledge of the literature (especially poetry) and music frequently required for funerals.
• understand in a refined way the “grief process” and its relevance to funeral celebrancy.
• know the main historical events that have affected people’s lives and the values they inherited, e.g the World Wars, the Great Depression, the post-World War II reconstruction period, the Vietnam and Korean wars, and similar
• be able to link such events (including local history) to an account of an individual’s life.
• be aware of the cultural and personal needs of the bereaved, with a general knowledge of funeral practices of different groups in our society,
• know about the classics, eulogies, and ceremonies.
• have a general knowledge of the workings of the funeral industry with which you must work and the laws, conventions, and practices to which it is subject.
• Apply the principles that apply to funeral services, memorial services, scattering of ashes, and similar

Assessment
Assessment tasks are on the last few pages of the module manual. All assessment tasks are carefully read, critiqued, and assessed.

Assessment is by the following methods:

Learning Journal
a diary relating your studies to the world in which you live, includes compulsory research and writing tasks where necessary.

Research questions
on selected written material provided with the module manual, books, videos, and website links.

Fieldwork
1. A structured analysis of three different funeral ceremonies presented by different celebrants
2. A structured interview with a funeral celebrant

Workload and Due Dates
The time envisioned for working on each unit is equivalent to 10 weeks at 8 hours per week. The college has not set dates for submission of individual items. However, unless special permission to extend is granted, this module is to be completed within 6 months. Temporary suspensions of enrolment are negotiable; however, fees for modules that have not been completed are not refundable.

Readings, Questions and Assignments
All manuals and DVDs (with private links to our videos) are provided, including “Ceremonies and Celebrations” if not previously provided, and will be made available immediately once the college receives full payment for the module. If the module manuals, books, videos, MP4s, and other items are downloaded from our website.  Otherwise, the items will be sent by post where necessary.
Transferring any material belonging to the college to a third party without prior permission is unethical and strictly forbidden.
Price
($1600 AUD, $1100 USD, 900 GBP, 1000 Euros)

Correspondence
On matters concerning the module, enquiries are to be directed to Dally Messenger: 0411 717 303

Our Enrolment Form is found on our Contact Us page

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