Is it right to show funerals on the internet?
TALKING POINT: Are pay-per-view funerals the future of mourning?
Published:
GRIEVING relatives and friends are now able to view their loved one’s funeral on the internet.
A pay-per-view scheme recently made available will allow mourners to grieve from home by watching proceedings online.
The new service will help mourners who can’t make a service because of distance or ill health, claims the company behind the scheme.
For a one-off fee of £75, mourners are given a password, which allows them to view the ceremony online for up to seven days after the event.
The services have been welcomed by one Aberdeen funeral director.
But an Aberdeenshire priest thinks filming a funeral is inappropriate.
The company behind the scheme, Wesley Music, is also offering DVDs of funerals for £50 or audio recordings for £25.
Independent funeral director Mark Shaw, of the George Street based Mark B Shaw Funeral Directors, said: “I think it’s a good idea. Any use of technology that helps bereaved people over long distances is good.
“I think, especially in Aberdeen, we have got a lot of relatives working in far flung oil companies and some people can’t get back to Aberdeen in time.
“We’ve had audio recordings and pictures taken. But we haven’t seen a funeral video recorded yet.
“One of the difficulties may be that if someone’s upset at a funeral and don’t realise they are being filmed. I don’t know how the practicalities would work. But it’s a good idea in principal.
“However, I think it would be a shame if it in any way prevented people going to funerals. It should be for people who genuinely can’t manage.”
The Reverend Gerard Murphy, of St Mary’s Catholic Church in Stonehaven, was against the filming of funerals.
He said : “I don’t think it would go down very well.
“It just seems alien to what the service is all about. Funerals are very sombre and very solemn occasions. It would not be appropriate.”
Trevor Mathieson, manager of Southampton Crematorium, where the scheme was unveiled said: “The service is designed very much with the distant relative or ill friend in mind.
“It’s not as if we’re Sky broadcasting Premier League football. We’re not putting the services on to the internet for anyone to watch.”
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