Families to celebrate significant milestones virtually at Marriage Anniversary Mass

Married couples celebrating significant anniversaries may be doing so with take-out dinners and a small number of family members this year, but the Archdiocese of Vancouver is hoping they still feel suitably celebrated and blessed.

The annual Marriage Anniversary Mass May 9 welcomes all couples celebrating 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, and 60+ years of marriage in 2021. Just like last year’s celebration, the event will be held virtually, with few couples actually in attendance and many more watching online. All couples participating will receive a blessing from Archbishop J. Michael Miller and have their names and photos displayed.

“It’s important for people to be able to have the wider church community acknowledge their marriages,” said organizer Michele Smillie.

“We have a wealth of people in our Catholic communities who have stayed married through various crises, and it’s a really good thing.”

The archdiocese celebrated the inaugural Marriage Anniversary Mass in 2018, with 225 couples celebrating more than 6,700 combined years of marriage.

It has since become an annual event, but due to pandemic-related restrictions on gatherings, had to be moved online in 2020 and again in 2021.

To mark the anniversary of his encyclical Amoris laetitia, Pope Francis declared a Year of the Family March 19, 2021 to June 26, 2022. That makes this year’s Marriage Anniversary Mass “especially significant,” said Smillie.

“We really want to witness to what marriage really is and that marriage is a sacrament.”

She added the Mass is an opportunity for families to celebrate significant milestones online that they would not be able to in person. People whose parents are married over 60 years and may not have the technological know-how to sign up on their own, can sign up for them and invite family members to tune in to the livestream and honour them together.

All couples honoured at the Mass will receive a certificate signed by Archbishop Miller with assurance of his prayers for them. So far about 100 pairs have signed up.

The deadline to register is May 3. For more information visit family.rcav.org/mam.

To further celebrate the Year of the Family and to mark the National Week for Life and Family (established by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops), the archdiocese is planning several online events including games and prayer for the whole crew May 10-14. For more details, visit https://family.rcav.org/week.

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