funerals

An example of an all-natural, biodegradable casket is arranged by Larkspur Conservation's executive director, John Christian Phifer

National

Tennessee 'Natural' Burial Ground Will Offer A Simpler Farewell — Casket Optional

8:16am March 11, 2018

Larkspur Conservation features trails, picnic tables, a meadow — and, soon, "natural" burial plots. The founders hope the space will offer a more meaningful and less expensive way to say goodbye.

Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Catholic Diocese of Springfield, Ill., has barred priests from performing sacraments for people in same-sex marriages. Above, Paprocki testifies against an Illinois same-sex marriage bill in 2013.

Illinois Bishop Decrees No Communion, Funeral Rites For Same-Sex Spouses

7:36pm June 23, 2017

by Laurel Wamsley

Bishop Thomas Paprocki is telling priests in his diocese not to offer sacraments to people in same-sex marriages. A Catholic LGBT group calls the decree "mean-spirited and unchristian in the extreme."

A chalkboard "bucket list" stirred imaginations and got people talking at an Indianapolis festival designed to help make conversations about death easier.

Death Talk Is Cool At This Festival

9:54am May 29, 2016

by Jake Harper

How to make thinking about death less somber? Hold a festival! Indianapolis did. Through art, film and book talks, residents explored everything from bucket lists to advance directives and cremation.

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Brendan McInerney (front, from left), Noah Piou, Emmett Dalton and their fellow students from Roxbury Latin boys' school carry the casket of a man who was left unclaimed by family to a grave site in Fairview Cemetery on Friday.

National

'Today We Are His Family': Teen Volunteers Mourn Those Who Died Alone

5:20am January 25, 2016

by Arun Rath

When a body goes unclaimed in Boston, it may receive a burial at a city cemetery. Students at a nearby boys' school are among those who volunteer to be pallbearers for people they've never met.

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World News

Egypt Mourns Omar Sharif, Its Homegrown Cinema Star

12:43pm July 14, 2015

by Leila Fadel

The international film star, best known for Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence Of Arabia, represented a bygone era for many Egyptians — though not many could get to his funeral on Sunday.

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A screenshot of a striptease act at a funeral in February in China's Hebei province.

World News

China's Latest Target: Funeral Strippers

5:32am April 24, 2015

by Frank Langfitt

In some parts of rural China and in Taiwan, hiring strippers to perform at the funeral of a loved one isn't considered absurd, but a good idea.

County employees, media and mourners gather for the ceremony honoring the 1,489 people whose unclaimed remains are being buried in the LA County Cemetery this year.

National

LA's Unclaimed Dead Receive Prayers, And A Final Resting Place

5:57pm December 14, 2014

by NPR Staff

Every year since 1896, Los Angeles County has buried the cremated remains of people who die in the region, but whose bodies are never claimed. This year, the county buried the remains of 1,489 people.

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Alain Locke is buried at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. He lies near many of the nation's early congressmen and next to the first director of the Smithsonian's Museum of African Art.

National

Alain Locke, Whose Ashes Were Found In University Archives, Is Buried

10:02am September 16, 2014

by Gabrielle Emanuel

The author and philosopher is widely known as the father of the Harlem Renaissance. But it is not widely known that Locke, who died 60 years ago, was never buried.

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