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
Humanist Association of Ireland to a pilot programme called "Goodness me, Goodness you" on the grounds that it separated children into believers and non-believers at an early age. They said that faith classes should take place outside school hours. Humanist Association of Ireland The Humanist Association of Ireland (HAI) is an Irish secular humanist organisation that was founded in 1993 to promote Humanism, which they describe as: an ethical philosophy of life, based on a concern for humanity in general, and for human individuals in particular. This view of life combines reason with compassion. It is for those people who base their interpretation of