The Rev. Maurice J. Kissane, an Oak Park native who served churches in La Grange, Brookfield and Oak Lawn before retiring as pastor emeritus of Queen of Apostles in Riverdale, died Aug. 13 at age 88, the Archdiocese of Chicago said.
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Kissane was born on May 9, 1939, in Oak Park, and attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago and the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, the archdiocese said.
The Rev. John M. Ryan, who attended Quigley with Kissane, called him a “very prayerful person.”
“Even in high school, he prayed and said the rosary almost every day in the chapel,” Ryan said in a statement. “He always had a great sense of humor. Later on, when he became a priest, he was totally dedicated to his people. He just loved being a priest.”
Kissane was ordained in 1964 and for more than four decades served churches in Chicago and the south and western suburbs, according to the archdiocese.
He was assistant pastor at St. Malachy Parish in Evergreen Park and later associate pastor at St. Giles Parish in Oak Park and St. Cletus Parish in La Grange.
He was pastor at St. Barbara Parish in Brookfield and St. Louis de Montfort Parish in Oak Lawn, which closed in 2021, the archdiocese said. He ended his career as pastor of Queen of Apostles in Riverdale from 2006 to 2008, where he gained the title of pastor emeritus, the archdiocese said.
Queen of Apostles Church was the parish church of the former St. Mary Queen of Apostles Parish. In 2019, Queen of Apostles combined with Holy Ghost Parish and St. Jude the Apostle Parish in South Holland to become Christ Our Savior Parish, the de facto home parish of Pope Leo XIV.
Funeral services were held Friday, followed by interment at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside.