More than 300 couples and their family members gathered on July 29 at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist for the annual diocesan Golden Wedding Anniversary Mass. Bishop Martin Amos was the celebrant at the annual event for couples celebrating 50 years of marriage.
Approximately 1,000 parishioners from across all eight counties of the Diocese of Cleveland filled the pews as the entrance song, “Love Divine, All Love’s Excelling,” began the Mass. The excitement on attendees’ faces and embraces of love by each of the couples overflowed the cathedral. Song selections included those traditionally used at wedding Masses.
During his homily, Bishop Amos asked couples to reflect on the common saying, “Life is something that happens when you’re making your own plans.” He continued by reading excerpts about real-life wedding day situations in 1968 that the couples in attendance submitted when they registered for the celebration. The remembrances ranged from grooms having to ship out for military service 24 hours after the ceremony to a snow storm causing a bride to wrap herself in a tarp as she entered the church. Those in attendance smiled as the bishop continued to share how as early as the first day of marriage, “you each adjusted the dream to reality and without knowing the future you made promises together and with God that you have held in high regard for 50 years.”
After Mass, Bishop Amos thanked couples personally for their faith-filled dedication to one another as he greeted them and their families before they left the cathedral.