When Brigid logged onto CatholicMatch in January, she was not looking for a whirlwind romance. Like many Catholics navigating modern dating, she had already tried other online platforms and walked away discouraged.
They both joined during the same month.
Mikey, a 26-year-old Marine Corps officer, also signed up in January. He was confident in what he wanted and equally patient in pursuing it. When the two matched, it was Brigid who hesitated. She was seven years older than Mikey, a detail she admits gave her pause. “Our age gap, in the beginning, just made me hesitant,” she said. Mikey, however, never saw it as an obstacle.
At first, Brigid said she wasn’t comfortable giving her number to a stranger, so they began chatting through CatholicMatch’s video feature. During that first call, Mikey made his intentions unmistakably clear. He told her he would drive from Las Vegas, where he was visiting a friend, all the way to Southern California just to take her to dinner.
And then he did exactly that.
After dinner, Brigid finally gave him her number.
Before CatholicMatch, both Brigid and Mikey had struggled to find meaningful connections online. The issue was not getting dates, but finding meaningful alignment. “Mikey and I had tried other online dating sites that weren’t centered around faith and had no success,” Brigid said.
Without a shared spiritual framework, conversations lacked direction, and neither of them was interested in something casual or undefined. CatholicMatch changed that by placing faith at the center from the very beginning.
Faith was a focus from the very beginning.
From their first few dates, their shared love for Jesus was already woven into the relationship, not added later. After just four dates, they were official. Soon after, they were attending Mass together every Sunday at Brigid’s parish. They even received their ashes together on Ash Wednesday, just 2 months after their first meeting – a quiet but telling sign of how naturally their lives were aligning.
Things began moving quickly
That summer, Mikey received deployment orders. The news forced an honest conversation about commitment. Brigid told him she would miss him if he left, but admitted she did not know if she would still be single when he returned. His response has since become part of their family lore. “I’m not leaving you here single.”
Two weeks later, they were married.
Following his Darcian proposal, they were married in Laguna Hills, California, on July 3rd, surrounded by family. Just two hours after the ceremony, they boarded a plane to Mississippi to spend the Fourth of July weekend with Mikey’s family, share the news, and say goodbye before his deployment.
Through prayer and shared faith in the Lord, what could have been a season of fear instead became one of intention. “Our shared faith made it easy to navigate that obstacle because neither of us was looking for something casual or without commitment,” Brigid said.
Distance did not slow them down.
During the deployment, Mikey flew Brigid to Germany, and later to Egypt, choosing to spend his limited free time with his wife rather than alone.
They just welcomed their first child the following December.
They were excited to welcome their first child, a baby girl! Motherhood brought new challenges, as it often does. “Being a first-time mom has changed the dynamic of our relationship & tested it,” Brigid said.
Still, she credits faith as the steady anchor during postpartum life. “Staying committed to our vows has been the only thing giving me strength, clarity, and peace.” She added, “Since I gave birth to our daughter, I find myself thanking God every day! Blessing us with a home, a family, a supportive village, a supportive community (friends).”
Having shared faith makes marriage easy.
Brigid describes their shared faith as the easiest part of their marriage. “Wanna go to daily Mass at 6:30am tomorrow morning?” Yes. “Wanna donate towards a chapel renovation?” Yes. “Wanna baptize our daughter at just 2 weeks old?” Yes. “Wanna invite the priest to bless our new home?” Yes.
As they look ahead, Brigid and Mikey remain grounded in a simple hierarchy that guides their decisions. “Put God first, your relationship second, and then your children third,” she said. “A strong and devout bond builds a stable foundation for the family you create.”
Their story is one they are eager to share, not for attention, but out of gratitude. They credit CatholicMatch with making it possible to find a partner whose values aligned from the start. “We were on other dating sites but never found true connections because it was difficult to find a partner with our shared values,” Brigid said. “CatholicMatch made that so easy for us.”
