40th Anniversary of His 40th Birthday

Our parish priest, Msgr. Manny Simas, celebrated his 80th birthday with a special mass on Saturday. As he would say, he was celebrating the 40th anniversary of his 40th birthday.

The mass was held at St. Joseph church, and it almost had the elements of a high mass. There were about 10 priests who co-celebrated the mass, including Oakland Bishop Emeritus John Cummins. The church was packed with family, friends, and well-wishers who wanted to be with the good monsignor on this special day.

The welcome remarks before the mass started was given by Fr. Joseph Nguyen, a former associate pastor of St. Joseph, and probably one of the most favorite Fr. Manny has had. Fr. Joseph would jokingly refer to himself as Fr. Manny's grandson. He praised his former pastor and shared with the community some of his personal experiences. In between, he would crack jokes to the delight of the crowd.

The entire liturgy was represented by the various groups and personalities of the parish. Fr. Manny himself celebrated the mass. The First and Second Readings were delivered by a youth representative and a senior member of the community, respectively. The Gospel was read by Deacon Lance, while the sermon was given by another former associate pastor, Fr. Jason Landeza. The Prayers of the Faithful were read by a representation of the different cultural and ethnic groups. The choir, too, was composed of the different multi-cultural choirs of the parish.

After Holy Communion, Bishop Cummins gave a brief history of the Oakland diocese, and shared his thoughts and expressed his best wishes for the celebrant. Immediately after, Ryan, who heads the altar services, read a special note from the current Oakland Bishop Michael Barber, SJ. Fr. Manny also received an Episcopal citation from the Bishop commemorating his 80th birthday. It was the first ever such citation issued to a parish priest in the Oakland diocese.

Before giving the Final Blessing, Fr. Manny took the opportunity to thank everyone who made the celebration a truly successful and memorable one for him. He also gave special mention of his family, who was in attendance as well. After the mass, a reception of held at the Parish Hall.

A week prior, I was requested to take photographs of the event, which I have done on some of the major festivities of the church in the past. This time, as much as I wanted to, I had to decline because I wanted to be part of the crowd that joined in the celebration, and didn't want to be distracted by a task that I had to do. I'm glad I did. Meanwhile, my son altar served. He always did at special liturgical events.

It was a wonderful celebration of a man who has lived his life in the service of God and our community. May God bless you, Fr. Manny.

Note: Author wishes to acknowledge St. Joseph parish for the photograph used on this post.