ABSTRACT

Even when services are held following a death, communities seldom respond as they once did. People perceive themselves as too busy to take time out of their schedules and attend funeral services, they rationalize that they were not close to the deceased or surviving family, they feel that death rituals are too formal or spiritual and uncomfortable to attend. For whatever reason, the sense of community support experienced and savored by survivors of a generation or two ago will probably not be found today or in the next century.