Bill and Mary met on CatholicMatch in 2010, when they were in their early sixties. Bill had received an annulment, but he was frustrated with dating websites since he couldn’t find a faithful Catholic woman. One day, Bill heard about CatholicMatch on Relevant Radio, and he knew it was exactly what he needed. He decided to give it a chance.
Mary had never been married before, and had been content. When she felt ready for companionship, she moved forward cautiously. She chuckled when she explained that she did things later in life in general.
“I didn’t learn to ride a bicycle until I was 10, and I didn’t get a driver’s license until I was 22,” she said. She was hesitant to try online dating, but she read a helpful article about it which recommended different sites. She tried Catholic Singles first, but she didn’t care for it. Then she tried CatholicMatch, and she was impressed.
Four days later...
Both Bill and Mary liked the layout, helpful quizzes, and ease of use of CatholicMatch. These things helped them find each other just four days after Mary joined. Their favorite tool was the temperament quiz! “When you looked for other people, you had an idea of how you might fit together, or not, in terms of your ideas and values and temperaments,” Mary said.
Less than two weeks after connecting online, Bill and Mary met for dinner on the North Side of Chicago where Mary lived. It was a long commute from Bill's home in Chicago's South Side, but he felt it was worth it. They enjoyed their time together, though Bill felt a little uncertain at first because Mary was so quiet.
“She is a listener, rather than a talker,” Bill said. He went ahead and asked her if they could meet again. She said, “Yes.” However, she didn’t think he’d follow through because of the distance between them.
Bill was sincere in wanting to continue to see her, so he made the drive from the South Side to the North Side of Chicago every Saturday. They would meet for Mass at Mary's Church, where she was an usher. Then they'd go out on the town. Sometimes they just went out to dinner; other times they went to the theater and other venues. After three years of dating, Bill and Mary knew they were meant to be together.
Surprise!
Bill wanted to surprise Mary with a proposal. He started off with asking Mary's brother for his blessing. Her brother agreed, and Bill began making plans. He decided the awards dinner for the school where Mary volunteered would be perfect.
Twenty family members and friends went to the dinner on September 29, 2013 (the day before Mary's birthday) to see her receive her award for all her hard work.
Although some of her friends had to leave following the awards ceremony, Bill was able to convince the rest of their group to go into the courtyard for a picture.
He then surprised Mary by going down on one knee and asking her to marry him. Mary was so happily stunned that she didn’t know what to say at first. She tried to think of something funny, but instead she just said, “Yes!”
Bill was thankful. “Mary sometimes is indecisive, so when you ask her a question she doesn’t always give you a ‘yes’ or a ‘no.’ She’ll ask, ‘What do you think?’ When she immediately said, ‘Yes,’ I was relieved that she didn’t ask, ‘Well what do you want to do?’” he recalled with a laugh.
I don't think you should have a long engagement
They wanted Mary’s cousin, who is a priest, to perform the wedding ceremony. “I asked him when he could do the wedding,” Mary recounted. “And he said, “I don’t think you should have a long engagement. He knew we were adults who knew what we were doing.”
They settled on January 4, 2014. They wanted a simple wedding with family and friends, and they also wanted to stay within a thrifty budget. “When they talk about how expensive things are for a wedding, they don’t have to be. You can still have a lovely event,” Mary explained. After their Church ceremony, they held the reception at the Irish American Center. Because it was the first weekend after New Year’s Eve, the center had nothing booked which made planning easy and economical. They then went on a cruise for their honeymoon.
Mary and Bill enjoy married life on the North Side of Chicago and are grateful not to be separated by a long commute anymore. They recommend CatholicMatch as a place to safely find your future spouse, especially if a person is looking for other Catholics who are dedicated to the Faith. They suggest that members take full advantage of the surveys and quizzes to make it easy to find someone who is truly compatible.
“Being honest with answers might drive certain people away, but it was important to me to find someone who was ethical, who thought logically, and liked Irish music,” Mary said. Bill concurs, “Other sites you could search people who were Catholic, but you would find out later that they weren’t really practicing. CatholicMatch sorts those things out for you.”
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