FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What purpose does a funeral serve?
It is customary to recognize death and its finality. Funerals are recognized rituals for the living to show respect for the dead and to help survivors properly go through the grief process.
What do Funeral Directors do?
Funeral Directors are caregivers and administrators. They make the arrangements for transportation of the body, completes all necessary paperwork, and implement the choices made by the family regarding the funeral and final disposition of the body. Funeral Directors are trained to answer questions about grief, recognize when a person is having difficulty coping, and recommend source of professional help. Funeral Directors also link survivors with support groups at the funeral or in the community.
Why is there a need for public viewing?
Viewing is part of many cultural and ethnic traditions. Many grief specialists believe that viewing aids the grief process by helping the bereaved recognize the reality of death. Viewing is encouraged for children, as long as the process is explained and the activity is voluntary.
What is the purpose of embalming?
Embalming sanitizes and preserves the body, retards the decomposition process and enhances the appearance of a body disfigured by traumatic death or illness. Embalming makes it possible to lengthen the time between death and final disposition, thus allowing the family members time to arrange and participate in the type of service most comforting to them.
Is burial space becoming scarce?
While it is true that some Metro Manila areas have limited available cemetery space, in most areas of the country, there is enough space set aside for the next 50 years without creating new cemeteries. In addition, land available for new cemeteries is more than adequate, especially with the increase in entombment and multi-level grave burial.
Is cremation a substitute for a funeral?
No, cremation is an alternative to earth burial or entombment for body’s final disposition and often follows a traditional funeral service.
Is cremation as a means of disposition increasing?
According to the Cremation Association of North America (CANA), cremation was the disposition of choice in about 27% of all deaths in the United States in the year 2001. it is projected that the percentage will rise to about 39% in 2010 and 47% in 2025. These figures represent the United States as a whole. Individual states and other countries like the Philippines may have lower or higher rates of cremation but already cremation is increasingly gaining acceptance among Filipinos as an alternative for the final disposition of the body.
How much does a funeral cost?
The funeral service packages vary depending on the choice of the family who needs the service. This include a professional service charge, transfer of remains, embalming, other preparation, use of viewing facilities, use of Chapel for ceremony, funeral coach, flower car, and casket. Sanctuarium’s prices, however, are competitive and affordable.
Why are funerals so expensive?
When compared to other major life cycle events like birth and weddings, funerals are not expensive. A wedding costs at least three times as much, but because it is a happy event, the costs are rarely felt or criticized. A funeral home is a 24-hour, labor-intensive business, with extensive facilities (viewing rooms, chapels, limousines, hearses, etc.), expenses which must be factored into the cost of a funeral. Moreover, the cost of a funeral includes not only merchandise like caskets, but also the services of a Funeral Director in making arrangements, filinf appropriate forms, dealing with doctors, priest, florists, newspapers and others and seeing to all the necessary details.
Do Funeral Directors take advantage of the bereaved?
Funeral Directors are caring individuals who help people deal with a very stressful time. They serve the same families 80% of the time, and many have spent most of their lives in the same community. Of they took advantage of the bereaved families, they could not stay in business. The fact that the average funeral home has been ion business for over 59 years shows that most Funeral Directors respect the wishes of the bereaved families.
Is it right to make a profit from death?
Funeral Directors look upon their profession as a service, but it is also a business. Like any business, funeral homes must make a profit to exist. As long as the profit is reasonable and the services rendered are necessary, complete and satisfactory, profit then is legitimate.
What should I do if the death occurs in the middle of the night or on the weekend?
Most Funeral Directors are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week so all you have to do is just call.
Will someone come right away?
If you request immediate assistance, yes. Of the family wishes to spend a short time with the deceased to say good bye, it’s acceptable. They will come when you determine that the time is right.
If a loved one dies out of state. Can the local Funeral Home still help?
Yes, they can assist you with out-of-state arrangements, to transfer the remains to another state from another state.
So, I’ve decide on cremation. Can I still have a funeral or a viewing?
Yes, quite often some sort of viewing precedes the actual cremation. Sanctuarium can assist you with the necessary information for a funeral with a cremation following or a memorial service.
What exactly is the cremation process?
Cremation is a process during which human remains are reduced to their original elements by the application of intense heat. The must be enclosed in some type of container when delivered to the crematory, typically casket or cremation container.
The type of cremation containers may depend on your choice of funeral or memorial services, final disposition and memorialization. Unlike the traditional funeral with burial, there is no standard procedure or expectation. Your decisions should reflect your family’s preferences, traditions and religious beliefs.
Following the cremation process, the cremated remains are placed in a second container for final disposition. For this purpose an urn is often provided.
Can a funeral home provide cremation services?
Not only can a funeral home offer all of the services that a cremation society offers, but it can also offer more. A funeral home has facilities to conduct a private or public gathering and ceremonies such as funeral or memorial services. The role of the Funeral Director is to offer options, listen to the family’s preferences, and then carry out those wishes.