Bishop Philip wrote on e-news:

“Last Saturday (21st), I went to St. Bede’s Basingstoke to offer the 2025 Significant Wedding Anniversaries Mass. This annual occasion is always one of great joy and many couples attend. As ever, the parish, led by Fr. John Lee, Liz Murphy and a magnificent team of volunteers, including servers, musicians, florists, caterers and all, organised the occasion superbly and put on a magnificent Reception afterwards. Every vocation in the Church is about love – marriage, the single life, priesthood, religious life – and love always involves a lot of self-sacrifice. This is what we thank God for in this Mass: for joy and happiness, and for the grace of perseverance. This year, 72 couples were present, with between them, 6,442 years of experience! A very special couple was again present, Gerald and Beryl Meadows from Bracknell, who this year are celebrating their 73rd anniversary – congratulations to them.

In the homily, I said “As the Bishop, I thank all of you profoundly for being married. I thank you for still being married. I thank you for fulfilling your vocation to marriage. Love is always a mystery. It comes from God. Why a husband and wife love each other, that’s a mystery. It’s God’s work! It’s a vocation. For this today, we thank Him.”

You can read more about this occasion and many more events in Bishop Philip’s weekly e-news.

Below are some photos of the event.