By Laurie Goodstein 
Article originally published in The New York Times on September 6th, 2006

Audio Slideshow here 

In his day job, Kersey H. Antia is a psychologist who specializes in panic disorders. In his private life, Mr. Antia dons a long white robe, slips a veil over his face and goes to work as a Zoroastrian priest, performing rituals passed down through a patrilineal chain of priests stretching back to ancient Persia.  Viraf Darukhanawalla wore a sacred cord, or kushti, at the ceremony.

After a service for the dead in which priests fed sticks of sandalwood and pinches of frankincense into a blazing urn, Mr. Antia surveyed the Zoroastrian faithful of the Midwest — about 80 people in saris, suits and blue jeans.

“We were once at least 40, 50 million — can you imagine?” said Mr. Antia, senior priest at the fire temple here in suburban Chicago. “At one point we had reached the pinnacle of glory of the Persian Empire and had a beautiful religious philosophy that governed the Persian kings.

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COME JOIN US ON 9/11/2006 FOR A DRAMATIC UNITY WALK AS CHURCHES, SYNAGOGUES, MOSQUES, & TEMPLES OPEN THEIR DOORS TOGETHER IN PEACE, HEALING, AND UNDERSTANDING FROM Union Square Park to The World Trade Center Site

Attached you will find an updated Unity Walk Flyer and a general Unity Walk FAQ about the 9/11 Unity Walk. I would like to sincerely thank you again for your support and cooperation in making this walk a success.

FOR INFORMATION
CALL: 212-338-9140
www.911unitywalk.org
Mr. Kane Koller
Associate for Research and Programs
Religions for Peace - USA, Inc.

Hello All,

Hope you all had a great summer and believe it or not it is “back to ZAGNY Class” already, so welcome to a new ZAGNY Religious class year.  I took the baton from Nawaz as being the lunch coordinator, as Nawaz being the Vice President of ZAGNY has she bigger & better responsibilities now.

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Hello All,
 
I once again would like to express my sincere thanks to each and everyone of you, and through you to your families, for the tremendous success for our participation at the World Gujarati Congress.  No other Parsi was left towards the end of the Conference to hear the thanks from the Chairman of the Conference to all the participants.  Dr. Navin Patel read out the names of all the Participants from the program and added a few words/sentences about the first time that they were able to share this Congress with “Parsi/Zoroastrian community participation with the help of ZAGNY”.
 
You may also like to know that SAHARA TV will broadcast a special review of the Conference at 12 Noon on September 9.  Those with Dish can watch this program, and if possible, record it for others.  Hosang Patel and Sulekh from Sahara TV came to our booth on the last day to record the whole Pavilion and interviews with Framroze & myself. This TV presentation will also be repeated on Sunday, 10th September at 5-30 PM. Please publicize this info to your friends & relatives.

Thanks.
 
Homi