After 60 years of marriage, Jim and Jennie Kuhar agree that compromise is key to a long and loving relationship.
Turns out, compromise is also key to future fathers-in-law.
“She had a curfew, and being a gentlemen, I fully intended to keep that curfew,” Jim Kuhar, 81, said in recalling his first date with his now-bride. He was in the Navy discerning the chaplaincy, and she had agreed to a blind date set up through her sister.
PHOTO GALLERY: Diocesan Wedding Anniversary Mass
“We went to Philadelphia to see ‘Gone With the Wind,’ not knowing it was four hours long. Plus, turns out, Daylight Savings Time was the same day,” he remembered. “So we are coming home an hour late, and her house is dark. I think, ‘Thank God. I’m safe.’ I pulled in the driveway, her dad threw a switch, and at least a 100 lights came on.
“‘This is it,’ I thought. But, everything worked out,” he said with a laugh.
“Yup, we’re still here after all those years,” Jennie Kuhar, 82, agreed with a smile.
The Kuhars, of Our Lady of Peace Parish, Williamstown, were among the dozens of couples blessed by Bishop Dennis Sullivan during the annual diocesan Wedding Anniversary Mass celebrated in English, Spanish and American Sign Language on Sept. 25 in Saint Gianna Beretta Molla Church, Northfield. Nearly 90 couples in the Diocese are celebrating 25, 50, 60 and 70 years of marriage in 2022, and the men and women at the Mass renewed their vows and held hands as Bishop Sullivan bestowed a blessing of rings.
During his homily, Bishop Sullivan thanked the couples for their vocation to matrimony and witness of fidelity.
“I intentionally use the word vocation because marriage is a calling from God,” he said. “Your marriage is a gift to our Church and to society. Both the Church and society benefit from and are enriched by your marriage. Society needs the stability of your relationship – probably more than ever before – and the Church needs your example of sacrificial and exclusive love – also probably more than ever before.”
He went on to quote a 2021 letter from Pope Francis to married couples, where the pontiff also wrote about the vocation of marriage.
“‘Marriage calls you to steer a tiny boat – wave-tossed yet sturdy, thanks to the reality of the sacrament – across a sometimes-stormy sea. Let us never forget that by the virtue of the Sacrament of Matrimony, Jesus is present in the boat,’” the Bishop quoted. “‘Whenever your marriage is buffeted by rough winds and storms, welcome Jesus into your boat as the Apostles did when they … encountered rough seas.’”
James DiBruno, 92, and his wife Rita, 90, certainly know about seas, both calm and stormy. The DiBrunos were married Oct. 4, 1952 – 70 years ago.
“We have arguments just like everyone else. But we get over it,” Rita DiBruno said. “You have to be forgiving and compassionate, and faith can help you with that. The Lord forgives us in our lives, and he gives us the ability to be forgiving.”
The DiBrunos, of Notre Dame de La Mer Parish, Wildwood, met during World War II at a community center in South Philadelphia. They later went on a double date and today have three sons, one daughter, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
This was their fourth diocesan Wedding Anniversary Mass; they were blessed by Bishop Joseph A. Galante twice and once by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio.
What helped the couple get to 70 years of marriage? “I do everything she tells me,” James DiBruno said with humor in his eyes.
Laughing, Rita DiBruno added, “Obviously, humor is very important in a marriage. You have to take everything with a grain of salt. You can’t just be serious all the time. You have to have joy, and the Lord gives you that joy. So pray for the joy in your marriage.”
Indeed, joy was on full display during the Mass, which was concelebrated by numerous priests of the Diocese, including Father Anthony Manuppella, parish pastor, and Father Jason Rocks, diocesan chancellor and pastor of Holy Eucharist, Cherry Hill. Familiar classical and religious tunes performed by musicians under the direction of Mike Bedics, diocesan director of Worship, filled the church, and those of multiple generations wore wide smiles not just during the blessing of their family members, but for those celebrating decades of love as well.
“Being able to pray with these couples, and celebrate these milestone anniversaries has been a blessing to me, personally,” said Jose Rodriguez, director of Family and Youth Ministry, the diocesan office that coordinated the Mass. Rodriquez, who recently exchanged vows with his wife, Estrellita (Star), said, “As I reflect on the past seven months of my marriage, I can only hope to be as joyful and in love as these couples celebrating 25, 50, 60 and 70 years. Their witness of love and the Sacrament of Marriage serves as an example to everyone around them.”
Julio and Denise Diaz, who are in their 40s, said more examples of faithful and long-lasting marriage are needed, especially for those in their age group. “It has been a journey that we have gone through with God’s grace,” Julio Diaz said of their 25-year marriage. The couple, of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Parish, Camden, have four children.
“Faith has been the most important thing,” he said. “Have God, have faith, and through the tough times, pray a lot. Because marriage isn’t always easy.”
Faith and hard work were among the sentiments Bishop Sullivan expressed in his homily, too. “You have reached these significant anniversaries because of the good care you gave to the most important gift of your marriage – the gift of one another. Despite the troubles, losses, sufferings, disappointments that you have experienced – that are found in every marriage, that are found in every life – you took good care of the gift of each other – the gift of your exclusive love.”
The Kuhars can acknowledge that gift. Like the DiBrunos, they, too, have now been blessed by three bishops during four diocesan Wedding Anniversary Masses.
“It’s been a beautiful life,” Jim Kuhar said of a marriage that has graced the couple with two children, five grandchildren and travels to 44 states and 33 countries. The Mass, he said, “is a proper way to celebrate, and to me, the best way.”
at the bottom and then tap “Add to Home Screen”
