What Do I Do with
the Ashes?

Author Phillip Tovey
Publisher Grove Books £5.95
Format pbk
ISBN 9781788275064

This booklet is recommended to all Readers – not just those who currently conduct funerals. The historical context is clear – the church responded late to cremation, losing ground in funeral involvement over decades, but now the rapid growth of direct cremation avoids any contact with church. The process is seen as completed once the ashes are delivered to next of kin, sometimes to be scattered but often to be stored because nobody quite knows what to do next. This may leave families with no opportunity to process a death. Many clergy are hard pressed to take on a new element of pastoral ministry, but Readers may be well-placed to listen to families, to craft liturgies for a service when ashes are buried or a memorial service of thanksgiving, within the theology of our belief in the resurrection of the body. This could be a fresh expression of traditional CofE funeral ministry, based on pastoral and spiritual care.

Reviewed by KAREN SENIOR

Pastoral