"Today is a special day for each one of you," said Tucson Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas, the celebrant. "I'm sure as you think today, in those ... years, there were moments that were difficult, painful, when you had to forgive one another ... but that's what love is really all about."

Ninety-two couples were celebrating their golden wedding anniversary. One couple – Carl and Marie Stapleman of Most Holy Trinity Parish in Tucson – was marking 70 years of marriage.

Carl Stapleman said he was "just 21" when he married Marie, who said she was 19.

John and Mildred Turner of St. Joseph Parish in Tucson and Ernest and Rose Hadik of Sacred Heart Parish in Tucson were celebrating 69 years of marriage.

"Today you are celebrating your anniversaries ... what a time of joy it is," Bishop Kicanas told the gathering.

Each of the couples was presented a long-stemmed rose as they entered the cathedral. At the end of the Mass, Bishop Kicanas greeted each couple, was photographed with them and handed them a souvenir gift. The crowd then enjoyed wedding cake on the cathedral's veranda.

During the Mass Bishop Kicanas praised the couples and led them in renewing their wedding vows, a moment that brought tears to the eyes of many of the participants.

"Happy the husband of a good wife," said the bishop in his homily. "She brings joy to her husband. Be he rich or poor, his heart is content, a smile is ever on his face."

The bishop held up a photograph of his own parents and spoke of their marriage of 48 years, noting that his father, while terminally ill, had asked to renew his marriage vows with his wife as he lay in his hospital bed. A few days later, Bishop Kicanas said, his father passed away.

Bishop Kicanas said later that the couples in attendance at the cathedral "stand as an inspiration to all married couples striving to grow in respect, trust, forgiveness and love for one another."

Marriage, the bishop said, "is an institution that today is under much stress."

The idea for a diocesan event to honor couples celebrating 25 and 50-plus years of marriage emerged earlier this year after Bishop Kicanas heard from Catholics that the Catholic Church and the diocese needed to do more to support the institution of marriage.

A longtime Tucson wedding photographer, Frank Martinez, was at the Mass to take a photo of an anniversary couple whose wedding he had photographed at the cathedral 50 years ago.

The evening before the cathedral ceremony, Bishop Kicanas attended a portion of the Catholic Engaged Encounter retreat in Tucson where 40 couples were preparing for marriage.

"I heard them share some anxiety and trepidation as they anticipate promising their love to one another for life," he said. "I wish they could have been present at the cathedral ... to see that people can stay deeply in love over many years of life together."

Bishop Kicanas said the young couples, asked what it took to make a successful marriage, responded: "Respect." "Staying close to Christ." "Teamwork." "Trust." "The ability to forgive, and begin again."