Miffed mobedyar

"The primary goal of the North American Mobeds Council (NAMC) Mobedyar program is to provide religious services to Zarathushti communities in North America where mobeds are not readily available. Mobedyars are given training in basic ceremonies such as jashan and obsequies by NAMC’s volunteer mobeds,” asserted NAMC president Ervad (Dr) Arda-E-Viraf Minocherhomjee. He was responding to clarifications sought by Parsiana regarding allegations of discrimination and exclusion made by Mobedyar Maneck Bhujwala of southern California.
As per Bhujwala’s email of October 24, 2017 that was forwarded to us by a Parsiana reader, mobedyars were not allowed to participate in the groundbreaking jashan for the new atash kadeh in Orange by the Zoroastrian Association of California (ZAC) in 2015, nor at the inaugural jashan in 2016. At the inaugural jashan he said that although he could not sit with the priests he "participated in the jashan prayers in an audible voice as a peaceful protest… The vibrations from my mobedyar prayers did not extinguish or weaken the holy fire in our unconsecrated dar-e-meher.”

At the Jamshedi Navroz jashan in 2017 when mobedyars were again not invited to participate in the prayers, Bhujwala announced to the audience that he was being "treated like an untouchable” and proceeded to sit in the center of the hall with his own implements and perform an independent jashan in synchronization with the ordained priests. This action earned him a reprimand from the NAMC president, some executive committee members of ZAC and the officiating priest.
At the ZAC general body meeting, Bhujwala informed the assembly that "if the mobedyars who are doing a favor to the community by voluntarily getting trained and giving their time and effort to serve the community are not respected and unconditionally welcomed at community jashans, they will be discouraged.” The laity would also be inconvenienced if they have to bear the costs of bringing a priest from another region or be compelled to forego a ritual, he reminded.
In response, the ZAC executive committee formed a five-member mobeds committee on September 3 on the advice of Dastur Khurshed Dastoor of Udvada, constituting Ervads Zarrir Bhandara, his son Zerkxis, Minoo Katrak, Dr Khushro Unwalla and Minocherhomjee. Adopting the general guidelines of NAMC, the committee resolved that mobedyars could participate in jashans and four-day funeral prayers at the behest of the mobed(s) leading the ceremony and provided that the mobedyar satisfactorily completes a one-day refresher course. A wedding, navjote, faresta, boi, muktad/Gatha prayers can only be performed by mobeds. Non-observance of any of these requirements "will result in automatic forfeiture of that mobedyar’s privileges granted by the ZAC mobeds committee.”
Since his training in 1997, Bhujwala says he has been serving the community without asking for fees and has recently initiated confidential, pastoral service to assist those facing stressful situaion.
Appreciating that "most mobeds and mobedyars in North America volunteer their services,” Minocherhomjee reiterated, "A mobed or mobedyar can participate in a jashan or other ceremonies when invited by the lead mobed and/or the organization. (Mobedyars are free to perform these ceremonies in private settings.) A mobed or mobedyar cannot impose his/her views on volunteer priests or associations.”
Always promoting "participation of the community,” Zarrir tries to make religion more meaningful to the laity, appreciates Mobedyar Vistasp Shroff citing the instance of Zarrir distributing copies of Understanding and Practice of Jashan Ceremony to help the congregation understand the ritual. Shroff further referred to Bhujwala’s community involvement over the years and believes his "main contention is that mobedyars are only called for death prayers and not for good occasions.”
"As a mobedyar and now the newly elected president of ZAC, it is important that we unite our community,” Houtoxi Contractor stated in her email to Parsiana. She further added, "It should be noted that other mobedyars, including myself, understood the reasons why participation wasn’t allowed at certain events… Moreover, other mobedyars are more than willing to take a refresher course offered by Ervad Zarrir. It is important that the rules set forth for the program are understood and adhered to. My support in this matter is behind our Ervad Zarrir as he has selflessly done whatever is humanly possible to bring ZAC together.”
As conveyed by community activist Meher Amalsad of California, a refresher course for mobeds and mobedyars will be conducted in December at the ZAC Center in Orange. After completing this training, they will be invited to the Maediarem gahanbar jashan organized by ZAC on January 1, 2018. "We feel that this affirmative step will amiably address the mobedyar concerns and we can all move together towards serving our community with the spirit of integration,” he reinforced.