Seven years into their marriage, Cathy and Jim Nielsen realized they had hit a plateau.
“We did not have a bad marriage, but we thought we could do a little better,” said Jim.
“Our marriage was a little stale,” Cathy agreed, adding that they were involved with their children, work, school and everything else at the expense of their marriage.
In honor of the annual Catholic event honoring the sacrament of marriage and family, Worldwide Marriage Encounter and the Family Life/Respect Life Office of the Archdiocese of New York are putting the spotlight on spouses who have been married for 65 years or more.
Ten couples from New York are being honored this morning at a mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral, followed by a special reception.
They decided to try something new through World Wide Marriage Encounter of Vermont, a weekend away to work on their marriage. “I didn’t want any part of that touchy-feely stuff,” Bob said, “but I went and what we found out was how much we really did love each other. It was pretty special.”
Mary Ann and Michael Paul Swisher stood with about 200 other couples and marked Valentine’s Day by renewing their vows, an act meant to be both romantic and spiritual.
He said: “We see it as a way to show …”
Then she finished: “… our love.”
The Mass celebrated at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Sunday afternoon was intended to mark the 40th anniversary of the Catholic Church’s Worldwide Marriage Encounter program and World Marriage Day, an event that began in 1981 in Baton Rouge, La.
Read more: About 200 couples renew marriage vows at Mass on Valentine’s Day - KansasCity.com
The tears in some couples' eyes reflected the emotion of the moment. Facing each other while holding hands, about 70 couples renewed their vows to love and honour each other all the days of their lives.
This was one of the concluding actions of World Marriage Day Feb. 14 - a day spent celebrating marriage and learning how to make it even better.
Worldwide Marriage Encounter, a ministry for married couples, and the archdiocesan Office of Marriage and Family Life sponsored the celebration, which is held around the world on the second Sunday of February each year to honour the lifetime commitment of husbands and wives. Organizers said the fact the event fell on St. Valentine's Day this year, made it all the more special.
KANSAS CITY — OK, so St. Valentine’s Day is another Catholic feast co-opted by secular society.
But to some 200 couples, it was more than cards, candy and flowers. They came to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Feb. 14, many of them with their children small and grown, to renew their vows at a World Marriage Day Mass concelebrated by Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn and Kansas City, Kan., Archbishop Joseph Naumann.
The Mass also celebrated the 40th anniversary of Worldwide Marriage Encounter, a Catholic movement to strengthen marriages that offers four weekend retreats for couples a year in the Kansas City area....
George and Phyllis Timm fell in love in 1941 while playing opposite each other in a grade-school play. Bob and Marilyn Yawberg met in the church orchestra when she was 11 and he was 13. Valorie and Warren Colglazier made eye contact in Dr. Narramore's psychology class at Ball State in 1956, initiating a whirlwind courtship that ended in marriage later that year.