It was the wonderful time Meg had at the 2013 National Catholic Singles Conference (NCSC) in Philadelphia that motivated her to fully take advantage of her CatholicMatch membership. In the past, she had been a member on and off, but during those membership times, she hadn't invested much energy into looking for a spouse. For her, CatholicMatch had been a kind of Catholic Facebook. She had enjoyed being on the site for blog posts, social networking, and fellowship more than searching for a mate.
The conference was the inspiration she needed. “The talks at the conference were amazing, and much spiritual growth occurred for me. A few weeks before my CatholicMatch subscription ended, I reached out to Adam, in California.” Meg says, who was studying for her Ph.D. in Northeastern Pennsylvania at the time.
Since the day they met online on November 7, 2013 (read Meg and Adam's story of how they first meet), they have talked every single day on Skype except for three days. “That's pretty incredible considering the distance, the time difference, holidays, traveling, food poisoning, an ER visit for the flu/pneumonia, and just how busy life can be. We’ve come so far with “seeing” each other every day neither wants to be the first to break the streak,” she says.
Engagement
In May of 2014, Meg and Adam decided to meet up in Colorado to take in the sights and visit friends. It was here that Adam had plans to propose. After a day site-seeing and hiking—which included the 374 steps to the Mother Cabrini Shrine—the couple went to Mass at the Basilica Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Denver. “I knew I would propose to Meg after Mass. The only question was exactly where in the church and how I would get her alone without tipping my hand?” Adams recalls.
Nestled in his front pocket was the engagement ring. “During Mass, I was scoping out potential places for the proposal to go down. I saw two places that might work, but I wanted one with a kneeler. During communion, I saw that there was a kneeler on the left side up at the front of the church, so that was going to be it.”
After Mass, Adam took Meg by the hand and lead her to the front of the church where there were statues of two saints. Meg was excitedly telling Adam about which saints these statues were. “I was excited because I had just taken a photo earlier that day of a quote from Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, who was one of the statues standing in front of us!” Meg recalls.
Adam could hardly concentrate on what Meg was telling him because he was still plotting the proposal. “I asked her to kneel next to me so we could pray at the foot of the cross. I began a prayer asking God to lead us on the path that he wanted us to be on, tying it into the theme of the Gospel and homily from Mass. Then I got a little sidetracked and asked her if she knew that this had been our fifth Mass together and each of them had been in a different city across three different states.”
When he finished the prayer, he asked Meg how she felt about their relationship. “I wasn't really worried about her answer, but I was interested to hear what she had to say. After she answered, I said, 'I have one more question for you. And I'm going to ask it with a huge smile on my face.' Then I reached into my pocket to pull out the ring. I held it up and asked her, 'Will you marry me and be my wife?'”
Meg surprised and overwhelmed, said twice, "Are you serious?!"
All Adam could do was grin ear to ear as he waited for Meg to say, "YES!"
He then slipped the engagement ring on her finger which she admired and said, “Sparkly!”
Caught on Camera
Amazingly, their moment was caught on camera. A parishioner had seen them and had been so struck by the feeling of God's presence and love that she felt compelled to take some pictures. Afterwards, the couple went to a friend's home where they Skyped with Meg's parents to tell them the good news.
“I found out that was why I hadn't been hearing from my Mom the last couple of weeks for she feared spilling the beans!” says Meg. “She and Dad had known it would happen at some point during the trip since Adam had spoken with them of his plans during Easter weekend!” They then called Adam's parents and popped open a bottle of pomegranate zinfandel wine to celebrate.
Their wedding date is set for May 23, 2015, at Joseph Church in York, Pennsylvania. “We are working very hard to make the wedding extra special while also keeping the emphasis on God—as all of this is His doing!" says Meg.
Something that will make their wedding different is that family and friends will be a part of every aspect of the wedding from the music to the priest presiding over the wedding Mass. “Also the wedding party will be entering the church together as individual families rather than having the groomsmen waiting at the altar and each bridesmaid walk up to join him," explained Meg. "We wanted to keep the focus on family as we embark on starting our own family and life together.”
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