Washington D.C., Jun 8, 2010 / 01:21 am
More than 580 couples renewed their marriage vows at a Sunday Mass celebrated by Archbishop of Washington Donald W. Wuerl at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Couples offered a variety of advice for a long-lived marriage.
Participants were from Washington, D.C. as well as suburban and southern Maryland Catholic parishes. Some couples had been married for as long as 68 years. Of the couples at the Mass, 254 were married for 50 or more years.
The archdiocese recounted in a press release the story of participants Thomas and Rose Spalding, who first met when Thomas was seven years old. They married when he was 23 and she was 18. He has been a deacon at Our Lady’s Church for 20 years.
Mr. Spalding told the archdiocese he recalls a “beautiful life” with his wife in a marriage that has produced nine children, 18 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.