RI funeral home now offering webcasts

CUMBERLAND, R.I. (WPRI) - A Cumberland funeral home has a new tool to help grieving families who may be separated by many miles. J.J. Duffy Funeral Home is now offering live or delayed webcasts of funerals.

The funeral home is the first in the Blackstone Valley and Southeastern Massachusetts to introduce this service to clients, said owner and funeral director Dennis Bernardo.

Bernardo said in one case, the new tool helped a woman in Kansas who was not able to attend her mother's funeral.

"In that instance we provided a live webcast of the service," Bernardo said. "The daughter simply logged into the private site and she watched the service in real time."

Bernardo said the webcast service, which is free, would also be helpful for military personnel stationed around the world, who are unable to attend the services of loved ones.

J.J. Duffy's high-tech services don't end there.

According to the funeral home's website , it is also offering online interactive counseling services to help relatives in the healing process.