Couples married 70 years honored at Diocesan anniversary celebration

     Two couples married for 70 years were honored at the Diocese of Allentown’s 39th annual Anniversary celebration on Sunday, September 23.

 

     Dominic and Margaret DeBona of Easton, members of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Easton and Lamar and Clare Farrel currently at Holy Family Manor in Bethlehem were married in 1948.They are the longest married couples honored at the celebration at the Cathedral of Saint Catharine of Siena in Allentown. 

 

         86 other couples that have been married 50 or more years also registered. In total, the 168 couples who were honored have been married more than 7,200 years.

 

     Allentown Bishop Alfred A. Schlert celebrated Mass at the event and delivered the homily. Each of the couples who attended received a personalized certificate signed by Bishop Schlert.   

 

      The Diocesan Office of Marriage and Natural Family Planning sponsors the annual celebration. Couples celebrating five, twenty-five, forty, fifty and sixty or more years of marriage are honored.