CHARLOTTE — Married couples celebrating special anniversaries this year were the invited guests of Bishop Peter Jugis Oct. 22 at St. John Neumann Church. The annual wedding anniversary Mass honors couples who have been married 25 years or more. Sponsored by Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte, the diocesan event includes a reception with the bishop after Mass.
“I am happy to welcome you to this Holy Mass in honor of your wedding anniversaries,” he told more than 50 couples who, with family members, were present at the Mass.
Drawing from the special readings selected for the anniversary Mass – Gen 2:18-24, 1 Cor 12:31-13:8, and the Gospel of John 15:12-16 – Bishop Jugis reminded those present that these readings are the ones recommended for a wedding Mass.
“With these readings and with this Mass, we are remembering the day that you pronounced your wedding vows and began to live your marriage,” Bishop Jugis told them.
“I take this opportunity now to thank you for the witness of your love for each other and your love for the Lord, which you so generously in the past and for years in the future will be demonstrating, to build up not only your own families but also to build up the Body of Christ, the Body of the Church.”
Bill and Margaret Johnson, parishioners of St. Thérèse Church in Mooresville, attended the Mass to commemorate their 50th wedding anniversary. The couple is originally from Cincinnati, where they were married in St. Bartholomew Church. They have a son and daughter and four grandchildren. The couple brought up the offertory gifts at the Mass.
“The only thing you learn is to say, whatever it is, is: ‘I’m sorry,’” joked Bill Johnson when asked to share the secret to being married 50 years.
Margaret Johnson added, “Communication is the key. You have got to tell each other what is on your minds.”
They have always practiced their faith throughout their marriage, which is very important, they said.
Michael and Valerie Giggie, parishioners of Immaculate Conception Church in Forest City, are celebrating 25 years of marriage this year. Married at Belmont Abbey in 1992, they traveled from the mountains of western North Carolina to attend the wedding anniversary Mass. They have nine children ranging from age 6 to 24. Valerie Giggie read the first reading at Mass.
“We’re too stubborn to give up,” she said. “Prayer certainly plays a large part in that. Praying and also having children, teaching them as they grow older, helps.”
Amanda and Kevin McGoff were married 25 years ago at St. Paul’s Church in Pensacola, Fla. The couple has five children, ranging in ages from 8 to 19. The family are members of St. Mark Church in Huntersville, where Amanda serves as the music teacher for the preschool program.
“I think a good sense of humor goes a long way,” Kevin McGoff said. “I think the bishop nailed it when he talked about faith being the foundation. I went through RCIA before our marriage. Just starting off our marriage that way has really given our marriage that foundation.”
Amanda McGoff said she came to the realization through her years of study in the women’s group (Women of Joy Bible study at St. Mark Church) that she loves God more. “But that doesn’t take anything away from my husband. When I realize and accept and appreciate that I love God more, it makes it easier to love my husband and to be the wife that he needs me to be. It’s all about the unit and the grace we get from the covenant.”
In his homily, Bishop Jugis spoke of the covenant of marriage, a visible sign of the inexhaustible love of God.
“Love is faithful. Love is truth. Love is holiness, because it is living the very relationship with God – who is love,” he said.
True love is not self-seeking, he continued, but sacrificial in nature.
“That is the love that through the sacrament of holy matrimony He has planted right in the midst of your relationship, in the midst of your covenant with each other. By God’s gracious goodness, planted right in the middle of your family.”
Bishop Jugis shared the axiom: You are willing to give in proportion as you love. “I am sure you have discovered that over the 25, 50, 60 or more years you have been living together,” he told the couples.
“How is it possible to arrive at such a milestone? Isn’t it because you have decided to place the Lord first in your life, first in your marriage? That you have decided to place His love and His grace as the foundation for your marriage?
“And as a wise steward of God’s grace and God’s love, you knew where your success would be found: in the Lord, upon the strong foundation of His grace, of His love, of His holiness in your marriage.
“It is a sacrament that you are living. That sacramental grace – that grace of Jesus – is always there, available for you at any moment (so that) you can activate it and call it up for whatever need is in your common life of marriage,” he said.
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter