“The first day I joined CatholicMatch, in November of 2015, there was Nicola. She had the cutest picture, and I liked her profile. Just as I was about to write to her, I got a message from her,” Paul, 45, remembers.
Paul was one of Nicola’s matches. “I saw his picture, and I thought him so handsome. As I read his profile, I realized he had so many wonderful qualities including that God was first in his life. After reading that, I wanted to get to know him,” Nicola, 40, explains.
Paul hadn’t always put God first. “I was given a very wishy-washy view of the Catholic faith as a child, and I left for a while. But God eventually brought me back; He put people in my life that shared the faith, and I learned what being a Catholic really meant.”
Trying to meet the right one
Before joining CatholicMatch, Nicola, whose first marriage was invalid, suffered through a string of disastrous dates on other dating websites. “I kept being paired with guys who were "atheist" or "spiritual but not religious." I've always wanted to marry a man who put God first; my religion and my beliefs are the most important parts of who I am.”
After a failed relationship, Paul, whose first marriage was deemed invalid, was open to trying new ways to meet a spouse. “I tried a lot of things to meet a suitable mate. I even took up ballroom dancing. Finding a mate through online dating seemed like the only way to meet the right woman,” shares Paul, who spends half a year at sea as a merchant mariner.
He adds, “A cousin recommended that I try CatholicMatch after I met a very faithful Protestant who ended up being very anti-Catholic. While it was a great evangelical opportunity, it was a failure as a relationship. I immediately signed up with CatholicMatch.”
Meeting the love of their lives
Paul and Nicola were both living in Florida approximately two hours apart, so they decided to meet in person a week after meeting online. “For our first date, we went to Sunday morning Mass at my parish in Gainesville, Holy Faith Catholic Church, and then we went to breakfast together afterward. We had so much to speak about; it was so easy, and it felt like we had known each other for many years!”
Nicola knew that she had found the love of her life. “He’s my soul’s counterpart! We are so compatible in the areas of our lives that matter the most,” she says.
“From that day on, we both felt like we were birds of a feather. We are always discovering some new thing we share. I can’t say I have ever felt this way before about someone,” adds Paul.
In addition to their both being religious, they share other things in common. “We love the outdoors: camping, fishing, kayaking, and hiking. We also both enjoy reading, and we love the same music,” she says.
He adds, “We also have similar education and career backgrounds.”
A very steamy proposal
After six months of dating, on July 9th, 2016, Paul, a fan of astronomy, took Nicola to the Planetary Walk in Gainesville. “While we were walking along, I was complaining about how hot it was. He wanted to go all the way to Pluto, but I was so hot I told him I didn't want to go any further. We were at Uranus when he took my hand and told me to come stand in the shade. While I was reading the writing along the monument, Paul got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I burst into tears and, of course, I said, ‘Yes!’ then I apologized for complaining so much,” Nicola remembers.
The couple took part in marriage preparation, and they were joined in Holy Matrimony on Saturday, the 25th of March in 2017 at Holy Faith Catholic Church in Gainesville.
Continue Reading
