Fall, 2016
Will You Help Us During This Season of Giving?
As a non-profit, all-volunteer organization, Funeral Consumers Alliance of Minnesota operates on a shoe-string budget. We rely on donations from our friends and supporters to keep us going.
Why Support Us? Through our website, group presentations, price surveys, and the personal care we take when you call or email us, we strive to bring you a breadth and depth of information about after death choices you won't find any place else. |
What we do costs so little because of the many hours our volunteers spend:
If this website - and the work we do - has helped you, please consider a donation of $5, $10, $20 (or more) so that our all-volunteer organization can continue this work on behalf of all Minnesotans.
- Responding to your phone and email inquiries
- Maintaining and updating our website
- Giving presentations to community, church, and other groups
- Conducting price surveys so you don't have to
- Keeping on top of trends and changes in the death care industry
If this website - and the work we do - has helped you, please consider a donation of $5, $10, $20 (or more) so that our all-volunteer organization can continue this work on behalf of all Minnesotans.
Go to Support Us and contribute either online or by mailing a check.
Book Review: Greening Death
Greening Death
by Suzanne Kelly 149 pp. Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. In Greening Death, Suzanne Kelly tracks our cultural journey from the Civil War era when the care of dead loved ones was firmly situated in the domestic realm, to the high costs and polluting effects of the funeral industry, to the present when more and more of us are coming alive to the possibilities of natural death care and green burial. Kelly explores the misconceptions promoted by the death care industry since the 1850s including the idea that a dead human body is a potential soil and water pollutant that must be decontaminated by embalming. This and other false information has separated us from caring for our own dead. Natural burial practices maintain the emotional and cultural importance of care and reverence for the dead body, and also offer an opportunity to rethink our connection to the earth. “Death does have a place and function in the natural world – like any organic substance, dead bodies will rot and return to the earth.” |
Death labor moved away from the home 150 years ago as a result of dishonest marketing tactics by the funeral industry: embalming can conquer “the horrors of the grave”, caskets promote reverence for the dead, grave vaults protect soil from “dangerous” qualities of the corpse, and so forth. Jessica Mitford’s 1963 book The American Way of Death placed a spotlight on this dishonesty and greed, but Kelly claims the book did little to reconnect us to historical death practices. The simplicity of cremation became the new focus of death care, yet a “cultural silence” remained about death care that involves family members more meaningful ways and the harmful environmental effects of cremation. Green burial practices can be simple and economical, yet can also help us make meaning of the death of a loved through the recovery of forgotten knowledge and cultural wisdom.
Finally, Kelly challenges us to create a connection between the care of our dead and the care of our land. She examines three emerging types of burial grounds around the country – conservation, natural and hybrid -- and the ways they are reinstating the role of land in the cycle of life. Green burial’s “greatest promise lies in stimulating a change in the way people see themselves in terms of being part of nature.” Reverence for the dead body, natural funeral practices that allow families the freedom to care for their own dead, and the inclusion of land in the community equation all contribute to a reconnection to the earth and its cycles.
- Elizabeth Beckman
Finally, Kelly challenges us to create a connection between the care of our dead and the care of our land. She examines three emerging types of burial grounds around the country – conservation, natural and hybrid -- and the ways they are reinstating the role of land in the cycle of life. Green burial’s “greatest promise lies in stimulating a change in the way people see themselves in terms of being part of nature.” Reverence for the dead body, natural funeral practices that allow families the freedom to care for their own dead, and the inclusion of land in the community equation all contribute to a reconnection to the earth and its cycles.
- Elizabeth Beckman
Home for the Holidays?
The holidays are upon us, and like many Minnesotans, you may soon be gathering with relatives and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or the Winter Solstice, or Hanukkah, or the New Year, or Epiphany... with relatives and friends you may not have seen or spoken with since the Nov. 8 general election.
Perhaps you have the luxury of knowing that everyone you'll share a festive meal with voted exactly as you did. If so, you can confidently look forward to singing either "Happy days are here again" or Dies Irae.* But not everyone has that luxury. And for those who may find themselves in a house divided, how to approach the situation is no joking matter. Whatever your situation, gathering with loved ones may be the right time to talk about after death arrangements, especially with aging parents and other relatives such as siblings you don't frequently see. |
How else to better stop an argument about politics in its tracks than suddenly blurting out,
"Hey guess what? I've decided to buy a grave plot in a green cemetery and be buried in a shroud."
Talking Turkey During the Holidays is the title of an article that appeared in FCA of MN's Fall 2015 Newsletter, about how to use holiday get-togethers with family to bring up the subject of after death arrangements:
"Hey guess what? I've decided to buy a grave plot in a green cemetery and be buried in a shroud."
Talking Turkey During the Holidays is the title of an article that appeared in FCA of MN's Fall 2015 Newsletter, about how to use holiday get-togethers with family to bring up the subject of after death arrangements:
Have you wanted to talk with a parent or parents, or your grown children, about after-death arrangements, but haven't found the right moment? |
Print out a couple of FCA of MN's 2-page After Death Arrangements planning forms and share them with family members who may be receptive to giving some thought to what will happen to their body after death. And go to our Planning pages on this website for more information on how to make a plan.
And happy holidays to all!
And happy holidays to all!
* For the Latin challenged, Dies Irae or "Day of Wrath," is the opening phrase of a 13th century hymn that until 1970 was sung at a Catholic Requiem Mass and on All Souls' Day (November 2).
A New Cremation Arrangement Website
In the Summer 2016 Newsletter we noted that Twin Cities Cremation and the Funeral Directors had launched ecremationmn.com, an online cremation arrangement service.
SimpleCremationOnline is a platform for online cremation arrangements in about 20 states.
O’Halloran & Murphy Funeral Homes works with SimpleCremationOnline to give you a service that is quick, easy, convenient, and can be done entirely from your home computer. With this service, your loved one will be handled with complete care.
O'Halloran & Murphy's Simple Cremation Online serves Anoka, Washington, Hennepin and Ramsey counties only. Price: $990, not including cremation container. The lowest priced is the alternative container: $176. It’s the same container most funeral homes include in their price for Direct Cremation.*
The General Price List (GPL) can be downloaded from the website.
For prices, see the Service Calculator page.
The General Price List (GPL) can be downloaded from the website.
For prices, see the Service Calculator page.
* There's also a $65 charge to have the cremated remains mailed, and a $20 "delivery and handling charge" for the death certificate, in addition to the standard charge of $13 per death certificate copy. There is no option to pick up either the cremated remains or death certificates at the funeral home.
What Will Become of Your Cremated Remains?
The headline for this September 24, 2016 StarTribune article says it all:
Thousands of cremains languish at Minnesota funeral homes
Thousands of cremains languish at Minnesota funeral homes
The Cremation Society of Minnesota does 5,000 cremations a year... The society has about 100 orphaned cremains, some left for weeks and others for decades.
FCA of MN urges people who are planning cremation to make sure their plan includes instructions for what to do with the cremated remains (ashes) after the cremation process has taken place. As we say on our Cremation page, Cremation is a method of preparing a dead human body for its final destination. After cremation, something needs to be done with the ashes.
See Final Disposition of Cremated Remains: Six Options on our Cremation page to explore options.
While you won't be around to make sure your cremated remains don't languish on the shelf of a funeral home, clear instructions to your survivors will go a long way in ensuring your wishes are kept.
See Final Disposition of Cremated Remains: Six Options on our Cremation page to explore options.
While you won't be around to make sure your cremated remains don't languish on the shelf of a funeral home, clear instructions to your survivors will go a long way in ensuring your wishes are kept.
Turning Cremated Remains into Reefs
And speaking about what to do with those cremated remains, this headline for a November 4, 2016 StarTribune article says it all (sort of).
People are being cremated and turning themselves into coral reefs
Before she died of brain cancer, Sue Perry decided that she wanted her cremated remains to become part of a coral reef. Before she died last January, she made arrangements with Eternal Reefs, a Sarasota, Florida based company that does just that:
People are being cremated and turning themselves into coral reefs
Before she died of brain cancer, Sue Perry decided that she wanted her cremated remains to become part of a coral reef. Before she died last January, she made arrangements with Eternal Reefs, a Sarasota, Florida based company that does just that:
What Sue wanted was to have her cremated remains turned into a "reef ball," a craggy mix of concrete and ashes that divers place on the ocean floor. The reef balls act as a habitat for sea life, helping to regenerate deteriorating coral reefs.
There are reef ball sites up and down the eastern seaboard, but most of them are at a beach near Sarasota.
The article doesn't mention cost, so we did a little digging and found the following prices:
The article doesn't mention cost, so we did a little digging and found the following prices:
Memorial Reef PricesThe reefs come in three sizes:
The Aquarius - $3,995 Designed for the remains of one person. The Nautilus - $4,995 Can accommodate two sets of remains. The Mariner - $7,495 Can accommodate up to four sets of remains. The cremated remains of a family pet can be added to any size reef. |
Family members may travel to Florida to take part in the casting of the reef ball, and then charter a boat to watch the balls lowered into position by divers. Ashes may also be mailed to Florida.
Invite an FCA of MN Speaker
A speaker from Funeral Consumers Alliance of Minnesota is available to talk to your group about the ever-growing range of after-death choices, including:
▪ Traditional (Conventional)Funeral ▪ Cremation ▪ Green Cremation ▪ Home Funerals - Caring for Our Own Dead ▪ Green/Natural Burial ▪ Body Donation Your speaker will address: ▪ after-death planning before you die ▪ how to reduce after-death costs ▪ the environment and after-death choices FCA of MN will provide a speaker for your group free of charge. However, we'll gladly accept a donation in any amount. NEW: Would your faith community like to take a more active role in caring for a member after death? We're available to meet with groups small and large, or individuals, to help you get started. Go to Contact Us to arrange a speaker. |