More people are planning their funerals without a traditional religious ceremony. And the inclusion of clergy also has become an option, according to a recent survey about growing secularism in society. As reported in the USA Today, more than one in four U.S. adults (27%) said that when they die, they don’t expect to have a religious service, according to a national survey of 6,000 people conducted at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.
      The survey revealed that a growing number of people want to celebrate a loved one’s life at a funeral or memorial service without clergy — sometimes even without God. And that’s giving rise to the new specialty of pastoral-style secular celebrants who deliver unique personalized eulogies without the rituals of institutional religion. Also the Official Catholic Directory shows a 23% drop in the rate of Catholic funerals for parish-identified Catholics from 1988 to 2008.
      John Reed Sr., president of the National Funeral Directors Association, said 50% of Americans today say they don’t belong to a church and don’t see value in a religious funeral. But “they still want ceremony and celebration at the end of life.”

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