‘Say Yes To Each Other’: NJ Couples Celebrate 50 Years Of Marriage

NEWARK, NJ — Want to know the secret to a long-lasting marriage? It might pay to brush up on concepts like “acceptance” and “saying yes to each other.”

Last weekend, more than 100 couples celebrating 50 years of marriage – plus a few marking their 60th, 65th and 70th years together – gathered for a “Golden Anniversary Mass” in the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark.

The spouses traveled from towns across North Jersey to attend the event, holding their wedding rings aloft as Cardinal Joseph Tobin led them in a prayer and celebration of their love.

They included Jim and Maryann Keegan, parishioners at St. Andrew’s in Westwood who were married in 1973, JerseyCatholic reported.

“There’s no secret to it,” Jim Keegan said. “You have to be committed to each other and God.”

Maryann’s advice? “Always be accepting of one another.”

Norma Fernandez, who is marking 61 years of marriage to her husband, Ricardo, said new couples should be ready to address their differences. She advised them to “say yes to each other every day.”

Their advice is similar to other tips offered at previous Masses. In 2022, Bob Wischusen, 74, and Anne Wischusen, 73, of Garwood, spoke about the secret to their long-lived marriage in a video filmed at that year’s celebration. Read More: Pure Gold: 150 Couples From NJ Celebrate 50 Years Of Marriage

As the archdiocese previously reported:

“According to Anne, it’s essential to do things together, but it’s also important to have other interests you can call your own. For example, Anne gardens and Bob plays golf and is a faithful participant in the activities of their nine grandchildren.”

“I never really worried about our relationship deteriorating,” Bob Wischusen said. “I just knew that together we could deal with anything, so we’re very, very lucky. And I tell my children that too – how lucky we are.”

Tobin, the archbishop of Newark, commended this year’s “golden” couples for committing their lives to another person despite the potential for difficulties in the relationship, calling it a “blessed act of faith.”

“How could you see what lay before you?” he asked. “How could you know then what ‘for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer’ would really mean?”

The Golden Anniversary Mass was a celebration of the archdiocesan Office for Family Life Ministry, which strengthens families’ faith by hosting programs, providing ministry support training for parishes, and offering other spiritual initiatives. Its next gathering will be a Mass recognizing couples celebrating their 5th and 25th wedding anniversaries on Sunday, May 7 at 3 p.m. inside the Cathedral Basilica.

The Archdiocese of Newark serves an estimated 1.3 million Catholic residents in Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union counties.

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