Vocation of marriage celebrated at annual Silver and Gold Mass

Love was in the air at the annual Silver and Gold Mass held at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson on Nov. 6, where about 70 couples celebrated anniversaries and renewed their marriage vows before Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney.

An annual tradition in the diocese, this special Mass included the celebration of couples marking 25 years of marriage (Silver) and 50 years of marriage (Gold). In total, 24 couples celebrated 25 years, and 44 celebrated a 50­­-year marriage milestone. There were also many couples celebrating between 60 and 70 years of marriage.

“As we began National Voca­tion Awareness Week, focusing our prayers and attention on the need for vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life, it was a blessing and joy to also recall and celebrate the beautiful vocation of marriage,” said Bishop Sweeney, the main celebrant of the Mass, who posed for photos with couples afterward. “May God bless them and all married couples with many, many more happy and healthy years!” The Mass is coordinated by the Diocesan Office of Family Life at St. Paul Inside the Walls, the diocese’s evangelization center, in Madison.