McManus Funeral Home
4601 Ave N
Brooklyn,
NY
11234
Fax:
(718) 258-8282
Email:
mcmanus.fh@gmail.com
Our staff has years of experience providing quality memorial services to families in Brooklyn, NY. Below, we have provided you with a breakdown explaining what a memorial service is as well as some tips to help you come up with great memorial service ideas for your loved one. If you have any questions about what you read here, please do not hesitate to contact us at your earliest convenience.
Unlike a traditional funeral, a memorial service is a gathering where a casket is not present (although the urn with the cremated remains may be on display). A memorial service can be held weeks or even months after the death.
A memorial service can be held in a church, the funeral home or a community hall, or somewhere of importance to the deceased and family. There is usually music, selected readings, and a eulogy. Memorial services can be further personalized as a
celebration-of-life.
We find the most common reason people choose a memorial service is that they want the extra time to plan a ceremony. Since a memorial service can take place after the body has been buried or cremation, there is no rush to organize a ceremony. Immediately following a death, families are not emotionally ready to have a ceremony – They need time to grieve. Relatives and friends that live far away can organize their schedule to travel for the memorial service.
We find the most common reason people choose a memorial service is that they want the extra time to plan a ceremony. Since a memorial service can take place after the body has been buried or cremation, there is no rush to organize a ceremony. Immediately following a death, families are not emotionally ready to have a ceremony – They need time to grieve. Relatives and friends that live far away can organize their schedule to travel for the memorial service.
Our experience has shown us that many of today's families want more than a traditional
funeral. This can be done by bringing more of the personality and lifestyle of the deceased into the arrangements. By displaying photographs or staging the event around a favorite pastime, a memorial service can become more personal and meaningful.
Planning a memorial service can be challenging, we have provided some prompting questions to help you better personalize your loved one's memorial service:
As mentioned in the page Traditional Funeral Services, there are four basic components which make up the conventional approach to funerals:
A traditional funeral then is a series of events; it's a ritualized process where the deceased, and the attendees, pass from one social status to another; a process where the torn fabric of a family and community is repaired. According to the online article "Six Characteristics of Helpful Ceremonies", by William Hoy, Director of Grief Connect, this is done by including:
In knowing these characteristics, you can design a Celebration of Life as unique as the life of your loved. Learn how to create a Celebration of Life .
Using the above five questions as our guide, we will spend the time to help create a fitting memorial service for your loved one. Please call us to learn the details of our memorial service planning process. We also urge you to visit the how to plan celebration of life section of our website to make your planning process easier.