Editorial Viewpoint
Priestly progress
For decades, community leaders have been going around saying the way to increase population was to build more housing. Homes were built but the numbers continued to dwindle. Some of the housing colonies have a density of three persons to a flat. What Parsis/Iranis did not realize is that marrying and procreating is an attitudinal issue in which housing is but one of the many factors. Homes have to be provided not with the end goal of increasing the population alone but improving the quality of life. Had that goal been kept in mind, larger flats would have been built to accommodate a growing family, lifts would have been installed for the elderly and infirm, ramps would have been provided for the handicapped, and so on.
The same logic needs be applied to the priesthood. Concerned people have been talking about making the priesthood more monetarily attractive without realizing that money is not the prime attraction. Many Christian priests as well as those of other faiths take a vow of poverty when joining the clergy. They denounce material wealth in order to serve their parish. In return, many of them are revered.
Priests of other faiths start schools, hospitals, seminaries and build churches. They are people of considerable standing and influence. They are in a position to help and assist others, to educate the young, to tend to the sick, console those in need…
In Stendhal’s classic novel published in 1830, The Red and the Black, the aspiring protagonist, a lad of humble means knows there are two avenues to rise to the top: the military (red as in uniforms) or the church (black). Today both avenues have lost their luster. Nearly all faiths are faced with dwindling priestly entrants.
Our two premier priestly institutions are bereft of students. The M. F. Cama Athornan Institute in Andheri with its munificent structure has barely two or three students while the Athornan Madressa at Dadar which housed over 40 students a few years ago, has 22 today. The likelihood of any of their graduates entering the priesthood full-time is remote.
At one time the madressas raised the finest crop of students who not only shone in the priesthood but in every walk of life. But as secular educational institutions sprung up and as couples restricted the number of children, reluctance developed to send them to the madressas. Catholics faced the same problem. When their families were large, one child was expected to enter the clergy. As the numbers dwindled, the parents and presumably the children became more selective.
The Andheri Madressa many years ago unwittingly made matters worse by discontinuing secular education believing that its scarce resources were being used for purposes other than training priests. Which parents would limit their children’s future to one profession and that too the priesthood? By the time the error was corrected they had lost nearly all their boarders.
Despite various initiatives by well meaning lay persons and institutions to pour funds into the profession, a change in priestly attitudes has not taken place. Many athornan families discourage their male offspring from entering the profession. They point to the long hours, the purification rites, the physical toll, smoke inhalation, the social restrictions, the relatively low pay, lack of benefits and even respect. Added to that is the danger posed to their lives by the continual proximity to fire (see “Death by diva,” page 20)
Out of Bombay anjumans in dire need of priests to keep their sacred fires burning offer attractive salaries, housing, food, free education for the children, medical coverage, a return journey once a year, a place of pride in the community but still find few or no takers. Some of those who accept the openings are the dregs of the priesthood, people who are spiritually bankrupt.
Around 25 years ago the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India had endorsed a paramobed scheme whereby lay persons, behdins, would be trained to perform limited liturgical ceremonies. It was believed these individuals could assist the regular mobeds and where possible manage dadgahs in places where no priests were available. Barely two or three volunteers came forth and of those one who completed the course was dismissed from service soon after he was employed by an anjuman in north India.
The Jam-e-Jamshed Weekly of July 19, 2009 published a letter signed by M. J. Cama, chairman of the M. F. Cama Athornan Institute and the M. M. Cama Education Fund referring to a workshop for behdins conducted by the trusts. Cama stated that a behdin who “had participated in the said workshop which is held once a year for 14 days” claimed he had “passed the Helper Dastoor and Din Pasban course knowing all our intricate ceremonies and rituals. These claims are deceitful and bogus. He has offered his services, obviously for monetary considerations only…
“Within a short span of 14 days it is impossible to teach all prayers and ceremonies to any participant.” He was “given only a participation certificate and not a passing certificate. The Behdin Pasban course is a full-time four years’ structured course with regular examinations.”
But today after spending a few weeks interning at an agiary, youngsters not even in their teens are ordained as priests.
Piecemeal, off-the-cuff, knee-jerk solutions have failed to deliver the goods both in terms of increasing the Parsi population and in stemming the decline in the priesthood.
In 1932 the trustees of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust utilized the services of S. F. Markham, an academician, author and member of Parliament to study poverty and philanthropy in the community (see Creating “professional beggars,” Parsiana, July 2004). He wrote a damning indictment of the manner in which doles were being given that ended up creating “a community of professional beggars.” The cooperation between trusts, the sharing of information on beneficiaries that he counseled has still to materialize. But much was done in the coming decades to alleviate physical poverty, illiteracy and poor hygiene in the community.
What is required is a proper and thorough study of the priesthood taking into account all the parameters to see if a solution is in sight. And if not, then to explore the alternatives. Without such an objective assessment all our best intentions and resources may continue to come to naught.
The same logic needs be applied to the priesthood. Concerned people have been talking about making the priesthood more monetarily attractive without realizing that money is not the prime attraction. Many Christian priests as well as those of other faiths take a vow of poverty when joining the clergy. They denounce material wealth in order to serve their parish. In return, many of them are revered.
Priests of other faiths start schools, hospitals, seminaries and build churches. They are people of considerable standing and influence. They are in a position to help and assist others, to educate the young, to tend to the sick, console those in need…
In Stendhal’s classic novel published in 1830, The Red and the Black, the aspiring protagonist, a lad of humble means knows there are two avenues to rise to the top: the military (red as in uniforms) or the church (black). Today both avenues have lost their luster. Nearly all faiths are faced with dwindling priestly entrants.
Our two premier priestly institutions are bereft of students. The M. F. Cama Athornan Institute in Andheri with its munificent structure has barely two or three students while the Athornan Madressa at Dadar which housed over 40 students a few years ago, has 22 today. The likelihood of any of their graduates entering the priesthood full-time is remote.
At one time the madressas raised the finest crop of students who not only shone in the priesthood but in every walk of life. But as secular educational institutions sprung up and as couples restricted the number of children, reluctance developed to send them to the madressas. Catholics faced the same problem. When their families were large, one child was expected to enter the clergy. As the numbers dwindled, the parents and presumably the children became more selective.
The Andheri Madressa many years ago unwittingly made matters worse by discontinuing secular education believing that its scarce resources were being used for purposes other than training priests. Which parents would limit their children’s future to one profession and that too the priesthood? By the time the error was corrected they had lost nearly all their boarders.
Despite various initiatives by well meaning lay persons and institutions to pour funds into the profession, a change in priestly attitudes has not taken place. Many athornan families discourage their male offspring from entering the profession. They point to the long hours, the purification rites, the physical toll, smoke inhalation, the social restrictions, the relatively low pay, lack of benefits and even respect. Added to that is the danger posed to their lives by the continual proximity to fire (see “Death by diva,” page 20)
Out of Bombay anjumans in dire need of priests to keep their sacred fires burning offer attractive salaries, housing, food, free education for the children, medical coverage, a return journey once a year, a place of pride in the community but still find few or no takers. Some of those who accept the openings are the dregs of the priesthood, people who are spiritually bankrupt.
Around 25 years ago the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India had endorsed a paramobed scheme whereby lay persons, behdins, would be trained to perform limited liturgical ceremonies. It was believed these individuals could assist the regular mobeds and where possible manage dadgahs in places where no priests were available. Barely two or three volunteers came forth and of those one who completed the course was dismissed from service soon after he was employed by an anjuman in north India.
The Jam-e-Jamshed Weekly of July 19, 2009 published a letter signed by M. J. Cama, chairman of the M. F. Cama Athornan Institute and the M. M. Cama Education Fund referring to a workshop for behdins conducted by the trusts. Cama stated that a behdin who “had participated in the said workshop which is held once a year for 14 days” claimed he had “passed the Helper Dastoor and Din Pasban course knowing all our intricate ceremonies and rituals. These claims are deceitful and bogus. He has offered his services, obviously for monetary considerations only…
“Within a short span of 14 days it is impossible to teach all prayers and ceremonies to any participant.” He was “given only a participation certificate and not a passing certificate. The Behdin Pasban course is a full-time four years’ structured course with regular examinations.”
But today after spending a few weeks interning at an agiary, youngsters not even in their teens are ordained as priests.
Piecemeal, off-the-cuff, knee-jerk solutions have failed to deliver the goods both in terms of increasing the Parsi population and in stemming the decline in the priesthood.
In 1932 the trustees of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust utilized the services of S. F. Markham, an academician, author and member of Parliament to study poverty and philanthropy in the community (see Creating “professional beggars,” Parsiana, July 2004). He wrote a damning indictment of the manner in which doles were being given that ended up creating “a community of professional beggars.” The cooperation between trusts, the sharing of information on beneficiaries that he counseled has still to materialize. But much was done in the coming decades to alleviate physical poverty, illiteracy and poor hygiene in the community.
What is required is a proper and thorough study of the priesthood taking into account all the parameters to see if a solution is in sight. And if not, then to explore the alternatives. Without such an objective assessment all our best intentions and resources may continue to come to naught.
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From the archive