Yes, that sounds very stifling, though unfortunately it doesn't surprise me; it is probably very traditional for the priest to be the only one to speak. But it isn't always that way. For both my Uncle Jack and my Uncle John (different sides of the family!) quite a lot of the time was spent having selected family members and friends giving eulogies about the deceased -- not some stranger. Sort of a celebration of their life. Though, oddly enough, the most moving bit of Uncle John's funeral was when they played Taps -- he'd been in the Navy in WWII, so he was entitled to a military funeral.