Prior to joining CatholicMatch, Mary, 25, had considered becoming a nun. After visiting two convents, she ultimately discerned that she was not called to the religious life. A year later, she sat up in bed late one night with the sudden desire to try online dating. “I already knew what I wanted in my future spouse: someone who loved God and Holy Mother Church as much as I did, someone who valued the same things I did,” Mary says. So she created a profile on CatholicMatch.
“I wasn’t too optimistic about it,” she admits.
Meanwhile, Nathan, 30, had been on another Catholic dating site for seven months. He decided to try CatholicMatch instead. “I had known for a long time already that my vocation in life was to be a husband and father,” he reveals. “I joined CatholicMatch because I wanted a Catholic woman who accepted all the teachings of the Catholic faith and practiced her faith in her daily life.”
A month after signing up, Nathan saw Mary’s profile, and sent her a message. Mary was struck by a comment he made about one of her profile photos, in which she’s wearing a mantilla veil. Nathan mentioned that women in his parish wear veils too.
Knowing they both lived in the same California town, Mary put the pieces together.
“In our diocese, there really is only one parish where wearing a veil is common,” she says. “So we both realized that we actually attended the same parish and have been doing so for years!” They had never encountered each other because they attended different Mass times.
After several more online messages, Nathan asked Mary to dinner. “I wasn’t really the dating type of girl,” Mary confesses. “I had gone on four or five dates maybe, and I had never been in a relationship before. So my date with Nathan was a pretty huge deal to my family.”
After their first dinner, Nathan walked Mary to her front door. Her mother appeared, and invited them inside. Nathan was shocked to see so many people. “My whole family was there— my parents, my five siblings, my sister-in-law, my niece and nephew!” Mary recalls. She was embarrassed, but the family enjoyed meeting Nathan.
Both admitted introverts, Mary and Nathan spent their first two dates casually getting comfortable with each other. “This made it easier for us to really open up to each other,” Mary says.
On their third date, they finally had a deeper conversation about their common interests.
“What attracted me to her in the beginning was that I could tell she was very devoted to the Catholic faith,” Nathan says. He was also impressed by Mary’s gentleness, warmth, and modest dress. “That showed me she took modesty seriously,” he says.
Both also shared a desire to have a large family. “I loved the fact that Nathan wanted a lot of children because I love large families and have always wanted to have one,” Mary says. She appreciated how close Nathan seemed with his family. She also loved that he attended daily Mass, prayed the Rosary daily, and went to weekly confession. “From that I was able to see that he is a devoted Catholic,” Mary says. “Finding a potential spouse who really took his faith seriously was very important to me.”
Three months after their first date, Nathan proposed to Mary. “When you know, you know!” she says. They were engaged for a year and three months, then married in August 2017. A year later, they are expecting their first baby boy. “There is no doubt in my mind that all this was divine intervention,” Mary shares.
Several people warned Mary that the first year of marriage is the most difficult.
“So I was surprised to find out how easy and wonderful it has been,” Mary says.
She admits it was somewhat challenging to learn how to live with each other in the beginning. But they’ve managed to enjoy a mostly smooth first year of marriage.
“This may have something to do with how patient Nathan is with me!” Mary laughs. “But also how he and I both strive every day to always put the other first in our relationship.”
Nathan appreciates how Mary constantly strengthens his spiritual life. “I don’t know what I would do without her,” he says.
Mary feels the same. “To me, the best part of being married is the lifetime of sleepovers with my favorite person in the world,” she shares. “I love that Nathan is the last person I see at the end of the day and the first person I wake up to every day.”
Update: Baby Thomas!
Sporting his CatholicMatch onesie
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