Funeral celebrant Funeral celebrant Funeral celebrant is a formal term denoting members of a group of non-clergy professionals who are committed to preparing and delivering high quality funeral ceremonies, which are not closely linked to any religion or to belief in an after-life. The concept of funeral celebrants is analogous in Western countries to that of civil celebrants (for marriages). It began in Australia in 1975. On 19 July 1973 the Australian attorney-general Lionel Murphy had appointed civil marriage celebrants with the aim of creating ceremonies of substance and meaning for non-church people. As secular (civil) marriage ceremonies became accepted, first in
Modern and Humanist France Modern and Humanist France Modern and Humanist France ("France moderne et humaniste") is a recognized movement within the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). It was created in August 2012 and it is led by Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Luc Chatel, Jean Leonetti and Marc Laffineur. The movement was created by former members of the Union for French Democracy (UDF), Rally for the Republic (RPR) and Liberal Democracy (DL) with the stated aim of uniting the party's liberals, Christian democrats, liberal conservatives and radicals; the broader centrist and moderate factions of the UMP. As a motion for the November 2012 congress, the