Addressed by athornans

In accordance with the Zoroastrian teachings of charity, the North American Mobeds Council (NAMC) believes that organ donation would be acceptable even though Zoroastrian scriptures do not explicitly make any reference. Based on the Patet Pashemani transcript, NAMC advises that marriage should be between a man and a woman. However a priest may perform a same sex marriage if so inclined. These were some of the issues that came up before the annual general meeting (AGM) of the NAMC hosted by the Zoroastrian Association of Pennsylvania and New Jersey on May 14 and 15, 2016 as per the minutes shared by outgoing president Ervad Kobad Zarolia.
Further, the NAMC unanimously agreed that all four-day obsequies should be performed in case of death by suicide. In instances of death at sea or in combat where the body has not been recovered, all obsequies could be performed. Since death by euthanasia is a personal decision, it was recommended that the priest could help the family in arriving at a right decision and in consoling the family.

Religious education of younger priests is of concern to the new NAMC president Ervad (Dr) Arda-e-Viraf Minocherhomjee who felt the youth were too busy in their respective careers to make time for the study of religious scriptures. At the meeting he proposed that religious education be continued through different modes of communication like Facebook and WhatsApp that the youngsters are inclined towards.
The new team of NAMC office bearers additionally includes vice president Ervad Tehemton Mirza who was earlier the treasurer, Ervad Xerxes Madan who is now the treasurer and Ervad Gev Karkaria, the secretary. They sent brief introductions to themselves at Parsiana’s request. Erstwhile NAMC vice president, Minocherhomjee who was ordained as a navar and maratab in Navsari has been providing volunteer priestly services to the community in the US and western Canada and was active in the establishment of an atash kadeh in southern California. Founder and managing partner of Chicago Growth Partners, a private equity firm managing $1.2 billion in assets, he was a Wall Street Journal All Star Analyst in the medical device and pharmaceutical sectors having earned his MSc in Pharmacology from the University of Toronto and a PhD and MBA from the University of British Columbia.
Mirza who volunteers religious and spiritual services in South Western Ontario and Michigan had trained at the M. F. Cama Athornan Institute and was ordained as a navar and maratab at the Iranshah. His professional career took him from Bombay to Iran to Indonesia and he finally settled in Ontario where he and his wife Zenobia own and operate a private CPA (certified public accountant) practice. Besides speaking and writing on Zoroastrianism for North American publications, Mirza is a recreational pilot and a marathoner.

Madan provides priestly services in Canada and is the chair of the Religious Committee of the Ontrario Zoroastrian Community Foundation. A chemical engineer by profession who has also obtained his masters in management studies, he is currently the sales manager for Croda, a specialty additive company. Troop Scouter for the 100th Oakville Zoroastrian Scout Group, the avid sports lover who represented his college in cricket and table tennis competitions, has been on mountain climbing and rock climbing camps in the Himalayas as member of the World Wildlife Fund.
Karkaria has served on the NAMC board for 16 years as treasurer and as secretary for the last four. Former president and treasurer of the Zoroastrian Association of Quebec, he has been active on the community front ever since he settled in Montreal in 1975. A chartered accountant from Bombay, he had undergone his navar and maratab training in Navsari.
Nineteen members attended the NAMC AGM of whom eight were from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. There is a constant demand for the Association’s mobedyar training program and currently two mobedyars are undergoing training. Ervad Soli Dastur was specially thanked for training two mobedyars via Skype. When a California lady put in a request for training she was asked to get a recommendation from her local association.
As part of their future preparations it was suggested by Brig (Ervad) Behram Panthaky (retd) that NAMC participate in the next Iranshah Udvada Utsav in December 2017. To extend NAMC’s scope beyond North America they offered to provide books and other educational material to community members in Europe and other regions.