Celebrating Marriage

by Daryl Nerl of Morning Call - Allentown, PA

We received excellent coverage for our diocsean annual anniversary mass honoring over two hundred married couples. We had a couple married 71 years renew their vows! 13 couples with 60 or more years of marriage also participated. It's a great "good news" story - a good way to start the week.
Dr. Bill Urbine
Director, Office of Family Life Ministries
Catholic Diocese of Allentown, Pa.
 ''When you say it is cloudy, dark and raining in your marriage, tomorrow the sun will shine.''


http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b3_5anniversarysep30,0,6290556.story

From The Morning Call - Allentown, Pennsylvania

Allentown Bishop Cullen honors couples for longevity of love

Diocese's anniversary Mass brings together 200 married pairs.

By Daryl Nerl Of The Morning Call

September 30, 2002

The Empire State Building was less than 2 months old, Al Capone had just been arrested for breaking prohibition laws and Pearl S. Buck's ''The Good Earth,'' was the best-selling book in the country.

It was June 20, 1931, the day Herman and Marie Neagley were married at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Allentown.

Seventy-one years, three months and 10 days later, the Neagleys are still married. On Sunday, they were one of about 200 couples honored by the Catholic Diocese of Allentown for marital endurance in a ceremony at the Cathedral of St. Catharine of Siena.

What is the secret to making a marriage last that long?

''No secret,'' said Herman Neagley. ''We just love each other.''

''Love and trust,'' Marie Neagley said. ''The most important thing is to trust each other.''

The 23rd annual anniversary Mass for married couples was celebrated by the Bishop Edward P. Cullen of Allentown, who thanked the couples, most of whom had been married for at least 25 years, for the example they set.

The U.S. Census reports that the median duration of marriage is about eight years. That means about half of all marriages last less than that.

Bishop Cullen personally greeted the 18 couples present who had been married at least 60 years, presenting them all with a signed proclamation. Sunday afternoon, St. Catharine's contained a combined total of 7,821 years of marital experience.

But none of the couples present had been together as long as the Neagleys.

They met about three years before they were married at a dance at Millside Park in the village of Palm. Lawrence Welk-type music played, Herman Neagley recalled.

''We help each other,'' Herman Neagley said. ''We have to work together.''

''A little more now than before,'' Marie chimed in. ''Now that I don't see
so well.

''We cook together, bake together, clean together,'' she said. ''We do everything together. When we bake, he measures everything and I mix.''

Asked about the secrets of her 40-year marriage, Patricia Sierzega of Allentown advised, ''You've got to take the good with the bad.'' She was introduced to David, then a Navy man on shore leave in her native Boston, by a mutual friend.

''My father told me he was going to love me and leave me,'' she said. While her father did not know best, David's mother left him with this piece of advice, which he still follows: ''When you say it is cloudy, dark and raining in your marriage, tomorrow the sun will shine.''

David's brother, Ronald Sierzega of Allentown, also was celebrating 40 years with his wife, Mary. The couple, both originally from DuBois, met on a bus to Allentown. Ronald, who was also in the Navy, was on his way back to his ship. Mary was on her way to Sacred Heart Nursing School.

They started writing. Then they started dating. Forty years later, Ronald Sierzega had one simple piece of advice: ''I do what she tells me.''

Has this been helpful?  Make a Contribution: Click here.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This e-newsletter contains copyrighted material the use of
which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We
make such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of
marriage, family, couples, divorce, legislation, family breakdown, etc. We
understand this constitutes a 'fair use' of such material as provided
for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17
U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit
to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research and educational purposes. For more information go
to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use
copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond
'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.