While the community reels from a shortage of mobeds, the Catholic Church in Bombay has broken with tradition and appointed two married men as deacons. Hindustan Times (HT) columnist Manoj Nair wrote in his column ‘Multiplicity’ on April 10, 2017 that a deacon is ranked lower than a priest and can perform most duties that a priest can, except for conducting mass, hearing 
confessions and administering sacraments to the ailing. Deacons provide relief to regular priests who may be overworked, especially on Sundays. "Bishops, priests and deacons are part of the hierarchy (of the Church),” according to Fr Gilbert Lima of St Peter’s College, a seminary in Goregaon, who was quoted in HT.
Nair informed Parsiana that deacons are not paid. "It’s like volunteering,” he responded. Were they well off, we inquired? "Not really. These are mostly people who had modest jobs and have some savings. They are taken care of during their stay in the seminary which is currently four years.
The first two deacons were appointed in January 2006, with the archdiocese Bombay taking a lead to implement a 1966 decision of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, states the report. Responding to questions from Parsiana on April 14, Nair explained that the delay was "not due to any specific reasons... perhaps they did not feel the need to employ deacons.” Bombay now has 16 deacons, according to Bishop Bosco Penha who promoted the idea and was in charge of the program when it was started in Bombay. "Married men have to train for four years, but we are getting candidates,” the bishop was quoted in the HT report.
A follow-up column in the HT of April 17 said that the report of April 10 on the ordainment of the deacons had "attracted a lot of interest among Parsi Zorastrians.” Drawing parallels, the report states that "Like the Catholic Church, Zoroastrians are struggling to find enough priests.” Ervad (Dr) Ramiyar Karanjia, principal of the Dadar Athornan Institute, stated in the report that the concept of paramobeds started in Bombay in the 1970s. "At that time, there was an objection to the term and it fizzled out,” he was quoted. The priest added that "It (the scheme) was revived 10 years ago under a new term — behdin pasbaans — and there are five or six active paramobeds in Bombay who go to places like Jhansi and Ratlam (where there are Zoroastrians but no priests).” The next batch of behdin pasbaans would be trained in May this year, according to Karanjia. Meanwhile, Jiyo Parsi has announced a one-day workshop on ‘priestly development’ in Bombay on May 13, 2017 to introduce its programs to the priests, followed by a session on work-life balance.