Florida Catholic | Couples Give Witness To Love

Jerry Widrig receives a boutonnière from his wife, Tina, prior to the jubilee Mass and celebration. The Widrigs are celebrating 30 years of marriage and are members of St. Dominic Parish.

MARCI ELLIOTT | FC
Jerry Widrig receives a boutonnière from his wife, Tina, prior to the jubilee Mass and celebration. The Widrigs are celebrating 30 years of marriage and are members of St. Dominic Parish.

Couples give witness to love at marriage jubilee Mass

MARCI ELLIOTT | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 02.29.08

TALLAHASSEE | Sixty-five couples from this city and other parts of the diocese celebrated a combined 2,428 years of marriage Feb. 17 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Thomas More, where Bishop John H. Ricard, SSJ, celebrated this year’s anniversary jubilee Mass honoring couples married 10 through more than 60 years.

Priests and deacons from several parishes assisted the bishop with the Mass and the ceremonies honoring the couples afterward, during which each received a single carnation and an anniversary jubilee certificate.

“Your presence here today is an affirmation of what’s possible,” Bishop Ricard said. “Your presence here today also says marriage is not an abstract proposition.”

In his opening prayer, the bishop said: “On the day of their marriage, they vowed to love each other in good and bad times, for richer and poorer. With your help and grace, their marriage has been a witness to your love.”

Msgr. Michael Tugwell, rector of the co-cathedral, welcomed the couples and guests. Some of the couples took part as lectors and presenters of the eucharistic gifts.

In his homily, Bishop Ricard spoke about the two kinds of love required to make a marriage successful: eros and agape. Eros is the love involving emotion, feelings, passion and romance, he said. Agape is the love that comes from God.

“Left to itself, eros fails. When those dark and cloudy days set in, Cupid bails,” the bishop said. “Eros cannot exist without agape.”

Several couples spoke of their marriages before and after the Mass in the parish social hall, where the diocesan Department of Marriage and Family Life hosted a reception. Many of the couples had some of their children and grandchildren as their guests.

“This is my wedding dress — from 30 years ago,” said Tina Widrig, dressed in a floor-length ivory gown with a wide ruffle around the top. She and her husband, Jerry, members of St. Dominic Parish in Panama City, were married in February 1978.

“We got married in Kentucky,” Jerry Widrig said. “We went to Lake Kissimmee for our honeymoon — and it snowed while we were there!”

The Widrigs told some of the things that helped their marriage last 30 years.

“Fish with your husband,” Tina said. “Do things together.”

Both agreed they like to do the same things.

“She doesn’t do anything I don’t like to do,” Jerry said.

Elaine and Ramon Langley of Good Shepherd Parish, married 66 years, were the longest-married couple at the jubilee. Elaine said there were no great secrets to making a marriage last that long.

“Everybody asks me that,” she said.

“I tell them it’s because I’ve lived to be 86,” Ramon said jokingly. “If I hadn’t lived this long, we wouldn’t have been married this long. Other than that, there are no secrets.”

Ramon also said a good marriage takes a lot of compromise. “I do everything she says,” he said.

One of the highlights of the reception was a table displaying the original wedding pictures of some of the celebrating couples. Alphonse and Mildred Trezza of Blessed Sacrament Parish included a current photo of their 63rd anniversary in a double frame with their wedding picture. Mildred wore an ice-blue outfit for the occasion.

Another couple explained why their wedding photo wasn’t in the display.

“Our wedding pictures were burned in a fire,” said Noreen Feuerstein. “But we don’t need any pictures. We’re living proof that our marriage has lasted 61 years.” She and her husband, Lee, are members of Good Shepherd.

Noreen Feuerstein wrote a list of things that have made their marriage successful. Among them: “Accept the gifts of Jesus to model our lives. … (Show each other) generosity, trust, kindness, respect, forgiveness, caring and — most important — patience. Pray together — always.”

Earlier, in his homily, Bishop Ricard said that looking through the community today, we find fewer and fewer couples together than ever before. Sadly, young couples today don’t see the importance of sacramental marriage, he said. He referred to long-lasting marriages as models for young people, especially neighboring Florida State University students, many of whom attend St. Thomas More.

“Young people need role models,” Bishop Ricard said. “Your presence here today gives them hope.”

Two FSU students who volunteered to help with the jubilee said they were impressed by the event and the couples’ long years of marriage.

“I thought it was so beautiful. They looked so joyful,” said Katty Paulino, 20, a junior. “When the bishop was talking about (staying married through) the hard times, I thought, ‘It’s still worth it.’”

Araceli Solis, 24, an FSU senior and Paulino’s roommate, said she’d like to celebrate a longtime wedding anniversary some day, just like the couples did at the jubilee.

“It was so inspiring to see them,” Solis said. “It was so great to see the older couples who have been married so long. If they can do it, maybe I can.”

Louise Ritz, director of Marriage and Family Life for the diocese, said the anniversary jubilee Mass and celebration is one of the diocese’s favorite events.

“The diocese was incorporated in 1975 and the jubilee was started sometime in the mid-70s,” she said. “I added the intergenerational celebration.”

Ritz said the event takes much planning and hard work, but is always worth the effort.

“Our administrative assistant, Bill Michie, does all the hard work,” she said.

Ritz also credited much of the work on the Tallahassee side to Deacon Lou Fetè and his wife, Rita Fetè, who designed and made the jubilee banner displayed at the reception. This couple from Blessed Sacrament Parish served as facilitators for the jubilee and spent several months laying much of the groundwork for it.

“You just do a little bit at a time,” Lou Fetè said. “When you add up all the years the couples have been married, it’s a very impressive number.”

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Couples give witness to love at marriage jubilee Mass

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