Diocese hosts annual marriage celebration
HOLLADAY — The Friday before Valentine’s Day, dozens of couples gathered at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Holladay for the annual Diocesan Marriage Celebration and Enrichment.
The event began with a Mass at which Bishop Oscar A. Solis presided; concelebrating was the parish pastor, Father John Norman. The unions of the 41 couples who registered for the event ranged from Cathedral of the Madeleine parishioners Joseph and Christine Pace, who were married three weeks ago, to John and Taffy Hale, St. Vincent de Paul parishioners who in June will celebrate 55 years of marriage.
“As married couples, the unity and devotion you share are tangible signs of the love that exists between Christ and his Church,” Bishop Solis said in his welcoming remarks. He noted that the event “focused on building a culture of life and love, and we do that by supporting couples, their marriage, and the families.”
Married couples are not only witnesses to the teachings of the Church in today’s culture, which tends to dismiss such values, but they also are “beacons of holiness and the unity of marriage,” he said in his homily.
The event was a time to rejoice, for the couples to renew their marriage vows and to recall what it means to be married “so you can continue to be a beacon of life and hope for our society and to the world,” the bishop said.
Marriage is “not just a noble undertaking but a sacred calling, a path to joy and happiness in this world, a vocation to be a saint,” he added.
The couples are martyrs, not in the sense that they would die for the faith but rather because “as martyrs, Christian couples are joy-filled witnesses of God’s presence and love in the world. … May your marriage bless our world, our society and your family always,” Bishop Solis said.
Laura and Mike Richards, parishioners of St. Mary in West Haven, said they appreciated the bishop’s homily, particularly the affirmation that they are “beacons of light,” the couple said.
Laura Richards also said she drew strength from the homily.
Following the Mass, the couples moved from the church to the parish’s social hall, where they raised a toast to each other, then heard a marriage enrichment presentation by Deacon Scott and Holly Dodge.
The Dodges, who will celebrate their 29th anniversary this year, have six children ranging in age from 11 to 28. They met at St. Catherine of Siena Newman Center while both were attending the University of Utah.
Deacon Dodge was ordained in 2004 and served at the Cathedral of the Madeline until 2015, when he transferred to his home parish, St. Olaf in Bountiful, where Holly serves as music director and chairperson of the parish liturgical committee.
Deacon Dodge also is director of the diocesan Office of the Diaconate.
As they opened their presentation, Holly Dodge said, “I think I can safely say this won’t be a talk that can answer all your questions about how to have a perfect marriage because we’re not marriage experts and we don’t have a perfect or uncomplicated marriage.”
Nevertheless, the couple shared some of the insights they have gained during their years of marriage in the Church. They used the fruits of the Joyful Mysteries of the rosary as a guide in their presentation.
The fruit of the first Joyful Mystery, the Annunciation, is humility, which is an important trait in a marriage, Deacon Dodge said, because the union of husband and wife requires trusting each other as well as having faith in God.
He spent some time discussing Ephesians 5:21-32, noting that the emphasis of that section should be the first verse, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
In that passage, Saint Paul was using marriage as an analogy for Christ’s relationship with the Church, but Deacon Scott noted that Paul acknowledged his comparison fell short, “as words always do in trying to describe the mystery of God.”
Nevertheless, “people should see a married Catholic couple and see the love they have for one another and be reminded of the love of Christ and, in a more particular way, the love of Christ for his Church,” the deacon said.
The Book of Genesis states that man and woman were created in the image and likeness of God, which shows “there is a fundamental equality between spouses, and that’s a really important concept,” the deacon said.
The couple also touched on natural family planning, which they acknowledged isn’t always easy to talk about. Nevertheless, Holly Dodge said she thought it was an important issue to discuss in a presentation on Catholic marriage.
The Church’s teaching that the life-giving role is intrinsic to marriage at times was difficult to heed, she said, but as time went on she came to see that NFP “was infinitely more wise” than she initially expected, she said. “I felt more respected and loved” because of NFP, and the process taught them to be more loving and more open to what God had for them, as well as offered lessons in humility and patience, she said.
The biggest struggle the couple has faced over the years is following Jesus’ example of emptying himself, Holly said. In addition to working together on their marriage and their family, they have each pursued their own interests, which has been both a source of friction and of growth, she said.
Times of friction are when one discovers the fruit of the fourth Joyful Mystery, which is the joy of finding Jesus, Deacon Dodge said. “It’s really in the cracks and the crevices of marriage, it’s in the recognition of your poverty that Jesus is really found.”
He closed with some tips about what is needed to make a lifelong marriage: “Praying together is important,” he said, as are communication, cooperation and a willingness to both ask for forgiveness and to forgive.
Among those attending the Dodges’ presentation were newlyweds Joseph and Christine Pace.
Attending such things together is important, Joseph Pace said, and Christine Pace explained that the two of them have talked about the importance of continually working on their marriage.
In addition, “it’s important to do things with our Catholic faith as well,” she said, as her husband nodded in agreement.
John and Taffy Hale laughed when asked whether, more than five decades after their wedding and having taught Engaged Encounter, they know everything about marriage. For them, the social aspect of the event was as important as the talks, they said; they also brought another couple to attend. John Hale said he appreciated Bishop Solis’ deportment; there were several moments in his homily where the bishop used humor and drew laughter from those in the pews, even as he addressed Church teaching on marriage and expounded on the meaning of the Gospel readings.
“It’s nice to see someone that’s higher up in the Church that is a human above all and still loves Christ as we do,” John Hale said.
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