[The uncharitable could say (and the journalists almost certainly have, whether amongst themselves or in print) that being a stick in the mud is just as much Celehar's calling as his work for the dead. He certainly seems determined to prove it true at every turn.]

I was taken in to the novitiate at a young age, and in my training when I realized that I had been hearing the dead, when I prepared their bodies.

[With the room cleaned, more or less, Celehar is left with little else to occupy him - so he settles his fingers, laced together, in front of him, and turns to face Need.]

Witnessing is not strengthened, in the way you describe - it is assisted by becoming used to the state of the soul, and by learning how to seek answers to one's questions.