A few months ago, I read the article More families choose to have funerals webcast from USA Today. I commend the article to you and wanted some pros and cons of this practice from my point of view.
Pros of Webcasting a Funeral
- Physically distant friends and family are able to see and hear
- Emotional closure for people unable to be present
Cons of Webcasting a Funeral
- Enables people to not be present at this sacred time
- Disconnects the experience from a physical community
We have webcast several funerals at Resurrection, particularly those that we are hosting that have a large community impact. What would you add to these lists?
Rev. Andrew Conard 
5 replies on “Pros and Cons of Webcasting a Funeral”
Pro. Could be a mechanism for community building at nursing homes, where residents are often not able to attend another’s funeral.
Andrew, yes, I agree with both the pros and cons. A big reason many go to a funeral is not as much for their own needs (although some do go for the mourning and closure, if they’re closer to the deceased) but to support the deceased person’s love ones. That’s pretty hard to do through a medium that’s one-way. It’s not very meaningful to say, “I care about you so much, I watched online.”
One of the pros to webcasting … the family and friends can view the service over and over if it is recorded. Many people like to have this available as it helps them to accept the death and it often is comforting. In terms of cons, I agree that remote viewing will not serve the basic need to be together with others at the time of death. Most people will remember very little about a funeral other than who attended and took the time to stand by them in their sorrow.
Got a few good comments when I posted about this back in February at http://www.kansasbob.com/2011/02/web-streaming-funerals.html.
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