Sara, 28, and Scott, 27, were both at turning points in their lives when they met on CatholicMatch in June 2013. Scott had just moved to Texas for a new job after graduating with a degree in computer science from Grove City College in Pennsylvania. Sarah was working long hours in retail at the time they started talking online, but she would soon get her first teaching job.
Scott had recently converted to Catholicism and joined CatholicMatch to meet new people. “Upon moving to Texas I found myself having a harder time meeting women. Online dating seemed like the easiest way around that,” he said.
For Sara, online dating seemed like a great option for similar reasons. She grew up in Forth Worth, Texas and converted to Catholicism in 2009. “I went to a primarily women’s college, and didn’t have a lot of opportunity for dating,” she said. “After converting, I met some people though young adult groups, but the guys there were either dating or discerning the priesthood. I decided to try CatholicMatch because my high school friend met her husband through CatholicMatch.”
First Contact
The first contact they had on the site was through their personal interviews. Scott answered Sara’s questions, and she responded in turn—he was already starting to make her laugh. “I remember his questions about paintball and the answer: ‘Beards are proof God loves us and wants us to be happy,’’ she said. “I sent a ‘Hi!’ and he responded with a breaking-the-ice message. He struck me as really friendly and it was easy to respond back to him.”
After talking with a few guys on CatholicMatch that didn’t work out, Sara was glad to meet someone who understood what it was like to convert to Catholicism later in life.
Getting to know each other
They started getting to know each other better via the CatholicMatch messenger. “I had to be at work at 6am twice a week,” she said. “I’d stay up until 11pm waiting to hear from him, even when I had to leave at 5am. It was fun to read what he had to say and exchange ideas. As time went on, I learned he was a Trekkie to my Whovian, but we both liked the book Ender’s Game. I liked that we were both converts, and nerdy in our own way,” said Sara.
The only problem was the distance. Although both located in Texas, they were still about three hours away from each other. On July 27, 2013, Scott made the trip to Fort Worth and stayed in a motel before meeting Sara for a date to the Dallas Museum of Art, about an hour away.
“We chatted the entire time, and I remember thinking that he was cute,” said Sara. “I really liked how he looked with a beard. We got to the museum, and we were there until it closed.” They both enjoy Renaissance art.
Later Scott took Sara out to a pub and introduced her to some “good beer."
“My previous experience with beer had left me less than impressed,” Sara said. “This time, I found two kinds that I liked. I’ve become a beer snob since then.”
After the beer tasting, it was Sara’s turn to show Scott something she loved. She is a self-proclaimed foodie—so they went to her favorite grocery store.
At the end of the day, Sara had a realization. “I drove him back to the hotel, and realized that I had spent about 12 hours with a guy I met online and was looking forward to going to Mass with him the next day.”
The next day Scott remembers commenting about how beautiful Sara's parish was. “We could have come here for the art,” he commented after they went inside the church.
Making a long-distance relationship work
After that trip, the two started officially dating. Due to busy schedules on both ends, they were only able to have a date weekend once a month, but they made it work by switching out who did the driving and they saved money on hotels by spending nights at family and friends’ houses. They set up weekly phone dates on Tuesdays and regularly texted during the day to keep in touch.
“Texting was a good way to reach out to each other,” said Sara. “I had a bad day, and texted him. His humorous reply made me laugh and made the rest of the day a thousand times better."
“You don’t really work around long distance—you just have to work with it,” said Scott. “We saw each other as much as we could, but the three hour drive meant we usually only saw each other once a month. I hate phones, so we only tended to have one long phone call per week, but we texted a lot.”
Scott Made the Move
Things changed when Scott moved to Dallas. Now, after two years of dating, they are able to see each other several times a week.
“We’re getting used to being able to see each other more than once a month,” said Sara. “It’s been nice to have our Tuesdays still—though now it’s dinner and spending time together rather than a long phone call.”
“I love that Scott has always treated me as an equal,” she added. “He’s always respected boundaries, and does little things to make me feel special. My first year teaching wasn’t easy, but he sent me flowers during the last week. I’m not about big romantic gestures, but his small actions are always sweet.”
These small actions are going to turn into a big one soon—the next step for Sara and Scott is engagement.
