To celebrate National Marriage Week, Prince of Peace Parish in Clinton honored and blessed all married couples at the end of Masses on Feb. 16-17. Terry and Florence Dingmon were the longest marriage parishioners that weekend, celebrating 67 years.
By Anne Marie Amacher
The Catholic Messenger
CLINTON — To mark the end of National Marriage Week, Prince of Peace Parish held two events to honor married couples.
On Feb. 15, all couples married two years or less, as well as all seven sponsor couples, were invited to a date night, candlelight dinner and to play the newlywed game, said Brenda Bertram, the parish’s director of faith formation.
At the end of Masses on Feb. 16 and 17, all married couples in the parish were asked to stand; then they were blessed by the priest celebrating Mass. Slowly, couples were asked to sit down based on the number of years they have been married, beginning with recently married couples and ending with couples who have been married for decades. All Masses had at least one couple married 50 years or longer, Bertram said.
“It was very inspirational to see all those couples still standing. It shows the value of the sacrament of marriage and that it still has a place in our society. It was powerful to see.”
Terry and Florence Dingmon were the longest-married couple at Mass that weekend. They have been married for 67 years.
“We have longevity in our parish,” Bertram said.
