By Jay Sorgi • Posted May 7, 2025

Catholic marriages are lifelong sacred commitments. On Saturday night, May 3 numerous couples from the five-county Philadelphia area gathered to celebrate marriages that have reached significant anniversaries.

The couples came to the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul for the annual wedding anniversary Mass that invited couples in their first through fifth anniversaries to pray alongside those marking their 10^th, 25^th, 50^th, 60^th, and 65^th year of marriage.

“The family is how humanity comes to be. Marriage is the Church’s primordial sacrament, and so it’s always worth celebrating,” said Daniel Drain, director of the archdiocesan Office for Life and Family.

“The Church teaches that once you’re married, that’s how you will become holy, that all the graces that are given to you from God are going to pass through that one flesh union with your spouse. All of the things that are difficult about marriage, and all the things that are really beautiful and enriching and affectively good about marriage, all of those are what sanctify you now.”

Moments of joy and struggle toward sanctification have certainly piled up for Kathleen and Vincent Romendio, who celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary in March.

The obvious moments stand out.

“When our children were born, for sure,” said Kathleen, who added weekly reception of Communion at Mass as key moments in their marriage. Today, she and her husband attend Mass at St. Agnes Church in Sellersville.

“It was important to us and our family to have a Catholic wedding,” added Vincent, who met Kathleen at the former Bishop McDevitt High School. “It’s just something that we’ve grown up with. The church, our religion, helped me get focused on what was important in life, and the direction of what I wanted to accomplish in life.”

They both cite Christ as the center their relationship, and the importance of communication.

“Listening to each other and not being selfish. I think that’s the greatest thing I’ve learned,” said Vincent.

“I was in construction business, but she became a registered nurse. That was really important to her,” he added.

“You helped me, for sure, because we were married and had children at that point,” said Kathleen. “He was the wind beneath my wings.”

“I always tell Kathleen how lucky I am every day that I was blessed with this family,” Vincent admitted. “I don’t know what I did to deserve it, but I thank God every day. Great partner, great children, grandchildren.”

The presence of those kids and grandkids reminds them of one of the other critical aspects of marriage.

“Be a good example to your children,” said Kathleen.

“Show them it’s OK to love each other and to have a religion,” Vincent added.

The Romendios were one of many couples who filled the front few rows of the Cathedral Basilica Saturday evening with successful marriages to celebrate.

A couple rows back from them, Mary Beth and Rick Trombetta from Collegeville reflected on the blessings of their marriage since their wedding day on Nov. 23, 1974.

“I didn’t have the greatest faith in the world at that time. Although I was an altar boy growing up, faith kind of fell off,” Rick admitted.

“When I saw her bless herself and how reverent she was when we were dating, that helped me. I figured this is someone I could trust.”

Trust has become a pillar in a relationship that has led to five children, 14 grandchildren and not very much idle time on their hands.

“We didn’t really have that much time to argue and that probably kept us together,” Rick joked.

Like the Romendios, Mary Beth and Rick revealed how their actions influenced their children’s lives, just as their parents were models for their marriage.

“I think we’re good examples to our kids, and our parents were good examples to us as well,” Mary Beth said about her and Rick’s parents. “They were both married 50-some years, so I think that they were good examples with their faith as well.”

The couples at the Mass, many of whom didn’t know each other before, all spent time together near the front of the altar. They wanted to take pictures together, celebrating how they were examples of what faith-filled marriages can become.

Decades and a lot of smiles after the first time they shared their vows, they then left the Cathedral Basilica, living those vows proudly each day.