Their Commitment to Each Other Beat the Distance

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Anto spent his early twenties planning on being single.

That is, until he turned 26, when he felt a nudge to explore the idea of marriage. He slowly began warming up to the idea, and joined CatholicMatch just to see who was out there. Over the next few months, he sent out lots of messages to anyone who caught his eye. Unfortunately, out of the few who responded, there didn’t seem to be mutual interest.

Four months later, native Californian Sophie just ended a year-long relationship of mixed denomination. It had been fraught with faith-related arguments, and Sophie decided she wanted to be serious about finding someone with a Catholic identity. She’d heard good things about CatholicMatch, and decided to sign up. Anto was one of the first people she met!

All the way over in Georgia, Anto spotted her profile among the newcomers to CatholicMatch. He immediately noticed her pictures and saw she accepted all church teachings. Her dedication to her job didn’t hurt, either: she was in an online PhD program for counselor education and supervision. So Anto sent Sophie a thought-provoking question along with: "Thank you for doing the counseling work you do... you must make a big impact in the lives of people!" 

Sophie, 24, I was immediately drawn to his appreciation for those in the field of mental health. 

“It was a great way to start,” she recalls. She quickly grew attracted to his love of the Catholic faith and acceptance of her teachings. He was also passionate about life and handsome to boot! 

The two communicated on Catholic Match for about three weeks before arranging a first date in Sacramento. Anto was flying to San Jose for a job interview, so Sophie drove from Grass Valley to meet him in Sacramento. There they toured a museum and went out to dinner. 

“We were both nervous and very excited to meet each other, because we had swapped long messages over the course of a few weeks,” Sophie says. The nerves must not have shown as they finished the evening stargazing, since they were both positive they wanted to go on another date!

As many couples discover, the distance between them made some things difficult.

There are almost 2,500 miles between her home in Grass Valley to Atlanta, where Anto lived. But with modern technology and commitment to each other, they made it work.  

Fast forward to Christmastime of that year, when Sophie was attending training in Atlanta (what were the odds of that?) for four days of conferences. But she got severely ill with the stomach flu on Friday through Saturday and missed some of her teaching time. During that convalescence, she fell in love with Anto even more through his devoted care.

“He held my hair when I was barfing!” Sophie laughs, remembering how Anto also went to the pharmacy many times to get her medicine. On Saturday afternoon, Sophie began to improve. Anto wanted to take her out on a fancy date, since she flew out the next day.  “I didn't think anything of it, except, ‘you really want to take me out after seeing me barfing and very ill?’" Anto, smoothly covered his intentions by saying the cancellation was 50 dollars. He convinced Sophie that the view was beautiful, and they didn’t have to eat there. So they went to the SunDial, a rotating restaurant on the top of the Westin hotel downtown. Anto pulled out a ring and proposed on the beautiful rooftop. Of course, Sophie said yes!

Now that they’ve been together for a while, Sophie says she loves how Anto is easy-going and hilarious.

Anto says: "{I love} that I can be myself around her, that we love each other's families, and that Sophie is passionate about her career.” It goes without saying that they cherish each others’ faith and life of Catholicism. One thing the couple has been praying about and taking seriously is their student loan debt, which they know would put a strain on their relationship if ignored.

They plan to get married in California sometime in September of 2020, and honeymoon in New Dehli to visit Anto’s extended relatives. Sophie will then move to Georgia to be with Anto. “We want to say how GRATEFUL we are for CatholicMatch--you have been the angel in disguise bringing together two lost halves of a whole!” Sophie says.

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