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Couples mark decades of marriage
By Rebecca Bostic, The Catholic Sun
February 21, 2008
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted celebrated a Feb. 9 Mass honoring more than 100 married couples during the ninth annual Celebrating Marriage event, held each year at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral.
Bill and Nancy Phelan attended the diocesanwide celebration to commemorate their 40th wedding anniversary. Honored along with other couples celebrating 25, 40 and 50 years of marriage, the cathedral parishioners especially enjoyed the bishop’s homily.
“Christ’s way is the right way,” Bill Phelan said of his 40 shared years of marriage. “Things aren’t always easy, but I think it is the best way.”
“It’s just commitment,” said his wife Nancy. “Be committed in the first place, and then you just keep going and concentrate on serving God.”
Katrina Zeno, coordinator of the John Paul II Resource Center for Theology of the Body and Culture, led a presentation after the Mass and luncheon.
Concerned about the attacks on the institution of marriage in America today, the bishop was grateful to be part of the Celebrating Marriage event.
“There is much confusion about its identity as the lifelong union of one man and one woman,” he said of marriage. “The Church is called by Christ to defend marriage against attacks on it in society and to support married couples in their vocation and mission in the Church.”
Bishop Olmsted believes one of the best ways to do this is “the celebration of God’s plan for marriage and especially a celebration of the anniversaries of married couples,” he said.
Preaching on Pope John Paul II’s Evangelium Vitae, the bishop focused on marriage as a path through which couples may achieve holiness when they are focused on serving one another.
Al and Lily Alvarez, St. Jerome parishioners and returning participants to the marriage event, said they have a great deal to celebrate after 44 years of marriage.
“It renews our spirit in our marriage to see other couples” at this event, Al Alvarez said. “It helps us to bring more life to our marriage.”
Attributing keeping Jesus at the center of their union to their marital success, Al Alvarez stressed the importance of faith in marriage.
“God must be number one in your life,” Alvarez said. “He’s got to be in your life and couples must love each other as Christ calls us to love.”
Mike Phelan, director of the Marriage and Respect Life Office, which sponsored the event, hoped couples left the Saturday celebration with a focus on Christ.
“Being faithful to your sacramental vow is not only possible, but positively beautiful. The struggles and need for mutual forgiveness are part of the glory of it,” Phelan said. “Married life is not merely surviving, but a mission is at the heart of marriage — to build a culture of life.”
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