A puppy picture caught her eye…
On December 23rd, 2020, Peggy messaged Jack for the first time. The New York State native had joined CatholicMatch seven months previously, and Jack from Boston came up as a match for her in November. Feeling a little frustration mixed with despair that she’d ever meet someone after a few “bad first dates,” Peggy ignored the match initially. But on that December night, she clicked on his profile. As she scrolled through, dog-lover Peggy’s heart melted when she saw a puppy in one of his pictures!
…but a story of faith captured her attention
She was impressed with his well-written profile overall, but in particular by his account of a defining moment of faith from his teen years. Jack wrote that at age 14 he’d been admitted to the hospital for appendicitis, and prayed four Hail Marys before undergoing an appendectomy. Afterwards, the surgeon told Jack that his case was the worst case of appendicitis the surgeon had ever seen, and he would likely be in the hospital for weeks! When Jack was released from the hospital just eight days later, he attributed his speedy recovery to the intercession of the Blessed Mother. In all the other profiles she’d come across on CatholicMatch, Peggy had never read about such a defining faith moment.
That’s when she knew Jack was special!
The two spent Christmas together though they were hours apart!
Jack quickly responded to Peggy’s message, and the two communicated so much and so often that Peggy’s dad joked that “you spent that Christmas with Jack!” On January 9th, 2021, the couple met for their first in-person date. Peggy shared, “Our first date was a walk around a pond on a very cold winter day. It was such an enjoyable time, as he was a true gentleman walking on the outside of the sidewalk and being so respectful of me.” In return, Jack found Peggy easy to talk to. For their second date, Peggy and Jack went out to dinner. After that, they became “dinner buddies” and enjoyed a meal together nearly every weekend. On their second date, with two forks and a piece of peanut butter pie, they started a delicious tradition of always sharing a dessert when out to eat! For Peggy to share a dessert with Jack was no small thing, as she’d once captioned an Instagram post, “Is there a man out there who will look at me the way I look at ice cream?”
The two were soon an official couple, as signified by Jack turning Peggy’s claddagh ring around on the third date, and Jack started his many 40-minute drives to visit Peggy. When the two of them first started dating, Peggy was living in Boston without a car so Jack did all the driving in the early months of dating.
The moment she knew ‘together forever’ was on the horizon!
Peggy summed up their relationship simply, noting “We fell in love quickly.” In August of 2021, she knew that the relationship was getting serious because Jack brought her over to his Nana’s house and his grandmother showed her the diamond ring that would eventually become her engagement ring.
From there, you might think, the rest is history!
That’s not quite right...
They navigated obstacles together.
Peggy and Jack had their fair share of challenges to weather together before he popped the question. One obstacle for Jack was guilt over a previous years-long interest in another woman that went nowhere. While Jack was certainly over that non-relationship before he even met Peggy, he regretted spending so much time and energy trying to get the other woman to date him. As he and Peggy dated, she encouraged him by reminding him that without the other woman’s ‘no,’ he couldn’t have had Peggy’s ‘yes’!
An obstacle for Peggy was navigating anxiety and panic attacks. Throughout the couple’s dating relationship, Jack served her as “a shoulder to cry on” and gently insisted that she get the treatment she needed. In early 2022, Peggy was finally starting to see improvements in her mental health. Then, in February of 2022, Peggy and Jack FaceTimed a deacon she’d known from her college years. When the deacon heard that they weren’t yet engaged, he asked Jack “what are you waiting for?” Jack joked that he figured, “If a man of the cloth is telling me [to propose], I gotta do it!”
He proposed in a place she’d loved since childhood.
While they dated, Jack and Peggy made multiple day trips to Ogunquit, Maine, a favorite family vacation spot during her growing up years. Jack chose to propose during a trip to Ogunquit. As they walked along the Marginal Way scenic trail overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, Jack asked a couple to take their picture. He did this to throw Peggy off the scent, because he knew she was expecting him to propose that weekend!
How did she know something was up?
Jack is a frequent blood donor, and the week previous to the proposal he’d been rejected for blood donation because his blood pressure was too high!
Peggy observed, too, how he kept touching his shirt pocket on the drive to Ogunquit and that “he was sweating a little.” So when the couple took their picture and there was no proposal, Peggy was indeed surprised. But mere minutes later, Jack asked another couple to take their picture, and this time he did pop the question!
Family and tradition were important on their wedding day.
The couple married on May 27th, 2023, in the same Boston-area parish where Jack’s parents were married. In fact, Peggy and Jack were the fifth generation of his family to be married in that church! Peggy recalled that Jack had told her on their very first date that he wanted to be married there because of the family significance.
Little did either of them know at the time that his wedding would be hers too!
The couple incorporated their mutual Irish heritage in their wedding rings, which are both engraved with the Celtic knot. The deacon friend who gave Jack the nudge he needed to propose served as their homilist during the wedding Mass! Peggy and Jack chose to place flowers before a statue of the Blessed Mother, a tradition they’d seen at another wedding. They also chose to light a unity candle to symbolize their two lives becoming one. Finally, Peggy’s mom’s cousin, Mo, baked their wedding cake, continuing a tradition of making Peggy’s parents’ cake and the wedding cakes of various other relatives. Continuing their desire to honor their mutual Irish heritage, the wedding cake was decorated with a Celtic knot border.
Their advice for other couples considering CatholicMatch!
Peggy, who converted to Catholicism in 6th grade, and Jack, who received all of his Sacraments but didn’t attend church growing up and only began attending Mass regularly after he started middle school, are both grateful to CatholicMatch for bringing them together.
Jack, who hopes that his Asperger’s diagnosis might encourage others with the same diagnosis to give online dating a shot, advised singles considering signing up for CatholicMatch, “You have nothing to lose and a lot to gain. Don't let your past bother you.” Peggy encouraged, “Be patient at first. It may take a lot of bad first dates to find the one, but he or she is out there. Often the person you meet may live close to you, but you just didn't go to the same church or your paths didn't cross due to different friend groups.”
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