He Took 8 Months to Respond to Her Message!
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In summer 2019, New York native Danielle signed up for a CatholicMatch profile while home from grad school in California. Even though she felt skeptical about online dating and feared that “I would never actually find someone I really connected with,” she opted to follow her mom’s advice to “just join and see what happens.” She sent messages to most of the 30 or so male members in her local area, sans “the ones I already knew or was related to!” Two weeks later, CatholicMatch went on the back burner as she returned to school and her graduate studies in Public Policy.
Then, Dan came into the picture...
One of Danielle’s messages went to Dan, a full-time maintenance technician at a flexible packaging company who was also pursuing a Mechanical Engineering degree. While he sought a spouse with shared faith and morals, he too was initially hesitant about online dating, particularly when many of the profiles he saw were for out-of-state members.
After conversations with several other CatholicMatch members didn’t turn into anything further earlier, he took a hiatus from online dating. Consequently, he only received Danielle’s message eight months later! In March of 2020, he finally read her message, which began with “Hey! What’s good??”
He had too many pictures of fish!
Since she had messaged many men primarily based on location at first, Danielle took a closer look at Dan’s profile after receiving his response. She thought “he seemed like a really sweet person and had cute pictures except,” she joked, “the fish ones!” in reference to multiple profile pictures showing him holding up fish he had caught.
For his part, Dan recalled “I thought she was very beautiful. On top of that, I loved how she explained her love of the faith and how it was a part of her daily life…that’s really what I was looking for. So, once I finally found that someone, I really stuck with her. And, we ended up having tons of similar interests.”
Due to the pandemic and her school switching to remote classes, Danielle flew back to New York the month following his response for an in-person meeting. During their seven-hour-long first date, a picnic in a public park, and on the many dates that followed, the couple learned that they both enjoyed outdoor activities like hiking, live music, and concerts, some of the same TV shows. They both were very close to their respective families and deeply treasured their Catholic faith. They even, Dan quipped, both turned out to enjoy fishing!
He proposed while dressed up as Joe Exotic!
They officially started dating towards the end of April 2020, navigating his work and school and her school as one or the other drove the half-hour distance between their homes multiple times each week. That summer, Danielle took a two-month-long fellowship in Washington, DC, and was surprised when Dan visited her not just once, but twice!
By August, Dan was starting to look at rings. Since Danielle loves Halloween, he planned a Halloween trip to a giant amusement park with haunted houses. They dressed up as Carole Baskin and Joe Exotic from the reality TV show ‘Tiger King.’ But, on the way there, they stopped at a park with a beautiful view of the water, where Dan got down on one knee!
They planned a Sacred Heart-themed wedding...
They were married nearly one year to the day later, on October 30th, 2021. Dan described the wedding Mass and reception as “incredible” and shared that they chose to consecrate themselves to the Sacred Heart through the Immaculate Heart of Mary on that same day.
The couple was surprised and happy to learn that her grandparents and his own parents also had Sacred Heart-themed weddings! The biggest surprise, though, came the day after the wedding. During brunch, Danielle received a message from a long-lost friend announcing that he was exploring converting to Catholicism from Protestantism. He specifically apologized for criticizing Danielle’s Catholic faith in the past and then thanked her in particular for having given him a Sacred Heart holy card!
Now, they are loving married life!
Now, Dan appreciates no longer having to drive back and forth to see each other as well as the gift of going through struggles together as a team rather than alone. Danielle smiled as she related, “It’s nice to have someone who cooks for me all the time!” She continued more seriously, “Being married has forced me to make some big changes for the good, and has impacted my decision to stay in New York and even my choice of job.” She serves as a Catechetical Coordinator at a local parish, and many weekends Dan joins her as a volunteer at various parish events.
Living out their faith together...
The couple shared that they’ve formed their own prayer ministry, praying devotions like the Divine Mercy chaplet or rosary, or reflecting on the Gospel together each day. Weekly, they choose a person to pray for, and at the end of the week, they send the person a note letting them know that they were prayed for by both of them.
Their words of wisdom for other singles seeking a Catholic spouse:
When Danielle signed up for CatholicMatch, she wanted “just to see if there were single Catholic guys out there, but in my wildest dreams I’d never have imagined I’d meet someone on there and get married to him!” Now, her go-to response whenever a friend complains that “I can’t find anyone [actively living out their Catholic faith]!” is “try CatholicMatch!”
Dan added, “I absolutely recommend [CatholicMatch] - and encourage singles to give it a bit of time! Patience is a virtue for a reason!”