Providing for rites of passage

At the end of the morning, I was collected and taken to Thornhill Crematorium to officiate at a funeral - my seventh in the Easter season. The fact that I've been asked to do this so often says a great deal about the diminishing availability of overburdened parish clergy for duties of this kind. What troubles me greatly is that churches seem to be making no effort to address the issue. 

Whether it's social convention being maintained by funeral companies, or a genuine desire on the part of bereaved families to call upon the pastoral services of a minister of religion to officiate at a funeral doesn't matter. One way or another, a need remains for families and communities to make their farewells to someone who has died with an appropriate rite of passage. Even if the majority have little connection with organised religion, it's a religious celebrant who's entrusted to occupy the role in most cases. It's not a role requiring a priest to perform. Any lay person can fulfill the role, if they are entrusted to act by the bereaved family with the support of funeral companies. Some Parishes and congregations make use of their lay preachers, though there are never enough personnel available in times of need. 

What needs to be developed hereabouts is a specialised lay ministry like the French Catholic church has created in the past quarter century. Pastorally gifted people are trained in bereavement counselling, and in the arranging and performance of funeral liturgies. As the number of active clergy in France is a small fraction of what it needs to be to meet the pastoral needs of even a minority church in a secular state, a lay ministry of this kind is a key element of the church's continuing missionary engagement in society. France makes a lot of ideological noise about being a secular state, but functionally speaking, Britain is no less un-religious. Yet, religious rites of passage, for better or worse, still occupy a significant social  role in our way of life. So why not put some effort into sharing the pastoral burden by training those who are willing to take on this role?