Funeral celebrant out for commentary two celebrants he considered outstanding, Brian McInerney and Rick Barclay. International acknowledgment was provided by a comprehensive article in Time Magazine (September 2004) reporting that in the "liberal" cities of Melbourne (Australia) and Auckland (New Zealand) civil celebrants "conduct substantially more than half of the funerals." It reported that before 1973 only clergy funerals were available to the general public in Australia and New Zealand. The article describes celebrant funerals as "intimate and personalised". But it also cited an alternative point of view by atheist sociologist Mira Crouch who stated that celebrant funerals were "mawkish and sentimental".
Officiant when a higher-ranking cleric is present, (save the Pope), there is only one principal celebrant. Secular Officiants include Civil Celebrants, Humanist Society appointed officiants, Justices of the Peace, marriage commissioners, notaries, and other persons empowered by law to perform legal marriage ceremonies. Many secular celebrants / officiants conduct the whole range of ceremonies which mark the milestones of human life. Officiant An officiant is someone who officiates (i.e. leads) at a service or ceremony, such as marriage, burial, or namegiving/baptism. Religious Officiants are usually ordained by a religious denomination as members of the clergy. Some officiants work within congregations in