Published: November 03, 2007 01:06 am      

Roxbury writer embarks on unique second career

Maggie Morris caught an eventful wave last year surfing the Internet.

Morris, who was born in Beaverdale and graduated from Forest Hills High School in 1968, recently retired from a 16-year career as a caseworker.

With a creative writing background at her fingertips, Morris, a published author, was seeking a different direction in life.

What she found in cyberspace was the Celebrant USA Foundation & Institute in Montclair, N.J.

“You learn to write ceremonies of all types,” Morris said.

“Say somebody’s not religious, or they’re two different faiths that want to combine to one religion, or if they want a complete secular ceremony for a wedding, an anniversary, even a funeral. You interview them, have them fill out questionnaires, and then write a ceremony and perform it for them.”

On-location classes lasted seven months. Morris said she completed the weddings and other ceremonies for couples, and funerals and other healing ceremonies classes.

The foundation – www.celebrantusa.org – also offers ceremonies for children and families, which include baby namings, house warmings or any sort of family function.

The 1987 graduate of Pitt-Johnstown said the movement, which originated in Australia in 1973, was a response to the many people who didn’t really belong to any specific religion and wanted more than a civil service, such as standing in front of a justice of the peace.

The practice didn’t reach this country until 2001.

“I had an idea about doing personalized writing, because I’ve been writing for a long time,” Morris said. “My degree is in writing, and I’ve done some free-lance. I did finish one book, and I’m working on a second one.

“When I was searching on-line, just to see if anything like that existed, I found the Celebrant Foundation,” she said.

“And when I was in class, it turns out that a lot of people found it the same way. They just felt that they were led to it, that everything that they had been working to had been leading them up to this.”

At one point, Morris, 57, thought about moving to Florida to start a celebrant business.

But she is steadfast on making it locally.

“I was a caseworker for 16 years. I just retired last year,” she said. “I do the writing on the side. I set up my Web site (www.maggiethecelebrant.com) for my celebrant practice.

“I’ve done a couple of weddings. I have two more booked for next spring. Wedding season is pretty much over for this year, but I also would like to get into doing funerals and healing ceremonies.”

Most people don’t understand what a celebrant does, or have ever heard of the craft. Morris said there are 300 to 350 celebrants practicing in the country.

“Since it’s fairly new, I don’t think people really have a good idea of what I do. I try to explain it on the Web site,” said Morris, who has lived in the city’s Roxbury section for 16 years.

“Really, what celebrancy is all about is making things extremely personal, asking questions about peoples’ lives. Whether it’s a wedding, a funeral or any other kind of a celebration.

“Writing a whole ceremony, not just, say, wedding vows or a eulogy, but a complete ceremony from beginning to end that speaks to the person’s whole life and makes it something unique and wonderful,” she said.

“Sometimes a religious ceremony might not mean anything to you, because you don’t know the roots of it. You don’t really understand where it came from or what it means.

“But if a celebrant designs a ritual for you that is based on your life and your experiences, then it becomes very-much more meaningful to you.

“This is really the basis of celebrancy, to really make it a personal experience,” Morris said.