For nearly a decade, Katie found herself drawn to the beauty of the Catholic Church.
Growing up in the Anglican faith, Katie, 28, finally made the decision to enter RCIA after years of discernment. Her next step was to find a Catholic man, and as she says, “if I wanted to marry a Catholic man eventually, I might as well start looking immediately!” So a month after beginning RCIA, Katie joined CatholicMatch.
Initially searching in her current area of Virginia, Katie soon decided to broaden her search radius to her home state of Indiana.
She liked him first, but he sent the first message.
When Katie came across Brad’s profile in her search, she particularly appreciated his quote from Benedict XVI. As a new convert, the quote resonated with her on the beauty of the Catholic faith being primarily about a person, Jesus Christ. She “liked” his profile, and soon Brad sent her a message.
Brad, 29, joined CatholicMatch on a 6-month subscription. “I got a gift check for $50 from my grandparents, so I thought this would be a good use for that money,” says Brad. As a theology teacher and former seminarian, Brad wanted to find someone whom he could grow deeper in his faith with. They soon began messaging and quickly made plans for their first video call. Katie had a policy with online dating to have the first video chat as soon as possible.
He told his roommate he was going to marry her!
After their first video chat, Brad said to his roommate, “mark your calendar, July 6, 2024—I’m going to marry her.” Though he was a little off on the date, his instincts proved to be spot on.
Ironically, Brad’s parents happened to live 20 minutes away from where Katie lived in Virginia! He had gone home to Virginia to visit his parents for Thanksgiving, while Katie had traveled home to Indiana for the holidays.
They met for their first date a couple of weeks later, just before Christmas. While she was not particularly attracted to Brad’s beard, she liked him enough to go out again. Katie even stayed in Indiana longer so she could continue seeing Brad in person.
Katie also continued to pursue some other casual connections from CatholicMatch. Yet after a couple more dates, Katie became more convinced that she wanted to pick Brad. On New Year’s Day, they became “official”, and their long-distance relationship began.
“Behind the beard is an amazingly handsome man!”
Now that they were in a committed relationship, Katie felt she could convince Brad to shave his beard. She found some old pictures of him on Facebook where he was clean-shaven. “I knew that behind the beard is an amazingly handsome man,” says Katie. Brad even jokes that Katie fell in love with him the moment he shaved his beard!
The long-distance nature of their relationship helped them grow in trust and communication. From an early point, they even prayed together as part of their daily video chats. They also discussed at least one question per day from a book called “101 Questions to Ask Before You Get Engaged.”
“You have to really lean into getting to know who the person is better and you can’t just rely on physical attraction,” Brad shares.
Managing to see each other in person about every three weeks, those visits became more fruitful because of the solid foundation they were building. It soon became clear that they were falling in love.
A leap of faith brings Katie back to Indiana.
Brad drove to Virginia to be with Katie as she entered the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil. Then in May, Katie packed up all of her belongings in Virginia and made the move back to Indiana. Brad and Katie had previously decided that they wanted to live in the same city for about a month before getting engaged. Living with one of Brad’s coworkers, Katie continued her job remotely while they got used to seeing each other on a regular basis.
On Sunday, May 21, the Feast of the Ascension, Brad took Katie for a scenic hike. It happened to also be the feast day of Brad’s favorite saint, Bl. Franz Jagersatter. “She totally saw it coming,” admits Brad, remarking how Katie had showed up with her hair and makeup done and her nails painted.
At one point they sat down on a bench, and in the midst of their conversation Brad pulled out a ring from his backpack and proposed! “I immediately started crying,” says Katie.
Entering into the beauty of marriage with the gospel at the center.
Katie and Brad entered into Holy Matrimony on November 25, 2023—exactly a year to the date of their first video chat! Taking place in South Bend, IN at a beautiful church, they had hopes that their wedding would bring together both of their worlds.
Brad and Katie also wanted their wedding to be evangelistic, showing the beauty of marriage with the gospel at the center. “That’s also how we envision our marriage,” says Brad, “it’s a Sacrament at the service of the world.”
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