Msgr. Francis Maniola, who celebrated his 75th year as a priest on April 23 and his 100th birthday on April 25, greets Mary Ann Balletto during a reception following a Mass celebrated in his honor at St. Symphorosa Parish on April 20. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
Not many people at St. Symphorosa Parish remember what it was like before Msgr. Francis Maniola got there. Msgr. Maniola, the pastor emeritus, has called the South Side parish home for nearly 45 years. Msgr. Maniola, who celebrated his 100th birthday April 25 and his 75th anniversary of ordination April 23, still participates at Mass every weekend at St. Symphorosa Church, 6135 S. Austin, taking Communion on the same altar where he has nearly every weekend since he became pastor of the parish in 1968. Msgr. Maniola guided the parish through the changes of the Second Vatican Council, establishing new parish groups and liturgical ministries. Since then, he has baptized and married generations of parishioners, said Marge Garbacz, the parish’s pastoral associate and director of religious education. Msgr. Maniola served as the parish’s third pastor before retiring in 1981. Named pastor emeritus and asked to stay on by the next pastor, Msgr. Maniola never left. Now he participates in Mass by watching from the sacristy door, approaching the altar for the Our Father and Communion, Garbacz said. “It’s such a witness of faithfulness,” she said. Up until this year, Msgr. Maniola blessed many sacramentals and other objects, even after he stopped celebrating Mass publicly and could no longer listen to confessions because he was too hard of hearing. “He loved to bless things,” Garbacz said. “People would stop by the rectory and we’d call him and he’d come down.” After a brief hospitalization in January, Msgr. Maniola now has the aid of a caregiver for some daily tasks, but he still joins the parish staff for lunch every day. “When he was in the hospital, he told everyone, ‘I want to go home,’” Garbacz said. “For him, St. Symphorosa is home.”