This weekend, a very special ceremony will be taking place. And NO, i am not talking about the royal wedding! The important occasion marks the tenth class of the Celebrant Foundation and Institute (CF&I), which will be graduating this Sunday in Jersey City, New Jersey. Graduation will be held in conjunction with the Collective Wisdom Conference and Workshop, featuring many CF&I alumni. i wish i could be there!
Back in 2004, the NPR addict i am found herself listening to a story by Scott Simon, about an organisation of secular officiants called Celebrants. i was struck by the occasion the Celebrants were commemorating: downsizing! Through ceremony, Celebrants were acknowledging a very real and painful transition many people were facing at the time. i recall how moved i was by the story, and how logical it sounded to me at the time, even though my experience with ritual and ceremony in general had been, so far, quite limited to Brownies/Girl Scouts, math tournament awards, my father's and others' funerals, and various graduations...with a few weddings thrown in, including my own.
When i checked out the Celebrants' North American website, i learned how Celebrancy, which originated in Australia, was now being taught and led in the United States and Canada by a formidable group based in Montclair, New Jersey. i applied for the Weddings and Couples programme, and thus began my personal journey as a Celebrant. Today, i am extremely proud and honoured to be a certified Life-Cycle Celebrant® and a CF&I faculty member teaching the very same Weddings and Couples curriculum/course from which i came from!
i so wish i could there with you this weekend!
BTW special thanks and recognition to our Tuesday night class - CAT, Cindie, Heather, Nancy, Nanette and Maryrose, who, as of Sunday, are no longer my students, [sniff] but my colleagues! WOOOOOOOOOOO!
Back in 2004, the NPR addict i am found herself listening to a story by Scott Simon, about an organisation of secular officiants called Celebrants. i was struck by the occasion the Celebrants were commemorating: downsizing! Through ceremony, Celebrants were acknowledging a very real and painful transition many people were facing at the time. i recall how moved i was by the story, and how logical it sounded to me at the time, even though my experience with ritual and ceremony in general had been, so far, quite limited to Brownies/Girl Scouts, math tournament awards, my father's and others' funerals, and various graduations...with a few weddings thrown in, including my own.
When i checked out the Celebrants' North American website, i learned how Celebrancy, which originated in Australia, was now being taught and led in the United States and Canada by a formidable group based in Montclair, New Jersey. i applied for the Weddings and Couples programme, and thus began my personal journey as a Celebrant. Today, i am extremely proud and honoured to be a certified Life-Cycle Celebrant® and a CF&I faculty member teaching the very same Weddings and Couples curriculum/course from which i came from!
So congratulations, Celebrant Class of 2011! :)
 |
| More info at the CF&I website |
BTW special thanks and recognition to our Tuesday night class - CAT, Cindie, Heather, Nancy, Nanette and Maryrose, who, as of Sunday, are no longer my students, [sniff] but my colleagues! WOOOOOOOOOOO!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment