Long-married couples celebrate together at Sept. 22 Mass

By DIANE SCHLINDWEN
      Managing Editor

Over 150 couples and their guests came from around the diocese to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on a rainy Sept. 22 for one of the most well-attended Masses for Couples Married 50 Years or More in a good number of years.

Two of those couples, both from Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Parish in Mt. Zion, sat together at the Mass, celebrating their anniversaries, which fall just one week apart. Steve and Ellen Bowman were married on April 20, 1974, while their fellow parishioners Edward and Patricia Cirks were married exactly one week later on April 27, 1974. They were happy to be at the Cathedral celebrating together, they said.

Like the folks from Mt. Zion, many of the couples were celebrating their 50^th anniversaries this year, yet others have been married much longer. All the couples were acknowledged by Bishop Thomas John Paprocki, who was the principal celebrant of the Mass, which was concelebrated by Vicar General Msgr. David Hoefler.

Gracie Ortiz, director of Marriage and Family Life, was impressed by all the love and commitment she witnessed at the Mass. “The biggest question young couples have today when they are contemplating marriage is, ‘Will it last?’  The couples who attended our celebration show all of us that with God’s grace, the answer is ‘Yes.’”

Ortiz said she noticed several husbands wheeling their wives in wheelchairs or spouses helping each other along. Some of the women wore corsages. “The loving way in which they served their spouses was a reminder to us that we are made to self-gift, and we are never more content than when we fulfill whatever mission God has called us to,” she said. “Every vocation has to weather tough times, and these couples are a powerful witness to all of us of the graces that God pours forth over a lifetime through the sacrament of matrimony.”

In his homily, Bishop Paprocki also addressed the couple’s commitment to those long marriages. “I commend all of you on celebrating your commitment to one another for more than half a century. Congratulations especially to those who are celebrating their Golden wedding anniversary this year. Your fidelity is a wonderful witness to the entire Church of the beauty of the vocation of matrimony and is a symbol of the love that Christ has for His Church.

“For married couples, as you renew your commitment of married love to each other, the best way to keep the flame of that love burning within you is to renew it with the fire of divine love that you receive in the holy Eucharist,” he said. “In this way you keep Christ at the center of your lives. It is He who keeps your love for each other strong through His grace received in the sacraments.”

Jesus taught, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all” (Mark 9:35). “This is the key to the longevity of your marriages,” Bishop Paprocki said. “Husbands and wives who truly love each other, that is, they seek the good for one another, do not ask who is greater, the man or the woman, the husband or the wife. They put the other first, asking what they need and how they can serve their spouse to make their life better.”

After the homily, the couples stood together to renew their commitment to one another and received a blessing. Following the Mass a number of couples had their pictures taken with Bishop Paprocki. Moreover, all were invited to a light reception, where they were able to watch a slide show featuring submitted wedding pictures that was put together by Sister Clementia Toalson, FSGM. Several volunteers, most from the Diocesan Curia staff, helped out at the event.

The Mass for Couples Married 50 Years or More was hosted by the Diocesan Office of Marriage and Family Life and happens annually, usually in September.