They Shopped At The Same Grocery Store But Didn't Meet Until CatholicMatch!

One day shortly after Christmas in 2017, Liz filtered CatholicMatch profiles for an unusual criterion- she searched for widowed men in her area in Texas. She was 38 at the time, and during the previous year had discerned out of consecrated life in Regnum Christi, the lay counterpart to the Legionaries of Christ religious order, after 14 years. Since that time, Liz had frequented Young Catholic Professionals meetings and other young adult events in her area, but hadn’t connected with the men she’d met in person. 

She opted to sign up for a six-month CatholicMatch subscription, and then renewed once before that fateful search. She explained her decision to search for widowed men, saying “I thought a man who had been widowed would have suffered, and been tried. If he had been faithful to his wife during an illness or whatever it was, he would be a real family man.” Looking back, she concluded, “It was really the Holy Spirit that led me to do that search that day.” 

Immediately, she came across Dominick’s profile.

Dominick had signed up for CatholicMatch just two months previous, nearly two years after losing his first wife to cancer. As Liz clicked through his profile, she thought right away, “He looks like a nice guy! Let me shoot him a message.” Her first message was simple, asking what parish he attended. When Dominick looked through her profile after receiving the message, he thought, “Wow, she looks very genuine, like somebody I could really talk to.”

Liz quickly learned that he’d recently begun attending the same large (3,500 families!) parish where she worked as a receptionist. Later they found that, even in an area with many grocery store options, they shopped at the same Kroger! 

For him, she broke with her previous vetting protocols!

Liz laughed as she recalled, “I had this system that I (previously) used to vet people. I messaged them, then if I liked them we would do video chat through the app, and then we would do a phone call. But with him, I broke all my protocols!” Just a few weeks after they exchanged initial messages, they met in person for a first date. 

While Dominick usually spent the weekends with his 15-year-old daughter, he and Liz got together while she was gone on a Confirmation retreat. Unbeknownst to Liz, Dominick had a full weekend planned, going on dates with different women Friday and Saturday evenings! But he told Liz he had time to attend Mass and get brunch together before he picked his daughter up from the retreat. Liz noted, “I remember asking God to send me someone who would literally and figuratively hold my hand during Mass, and be on my same level spiritually,” so she was really touched when their very first date included attending Mass together. 

Their first date was a success!

Dominick laughed, remembering “I did most of the talking, I talked constantly! I told her my whole story. I guess I figured ‘well, if that doesn’t scare her off, it’ll be great.’” On their second date, he took Liz to dinner to celebrate her birthday. He said, “That’s when I really focused in on her.” When she came out to his car from her apartment building, “She had the bluest eyes, and was just the prettiest thing. I couldn’t stop staring!” That date went swimmingly, and after dinner, they caught a late-night movie and then went for coffee! Dominick said, “I let her do most of the talking this time, so I could get to know her better!” 

Over the months following, the couple got together on weekends and chatted in bits and pieces of available time between her full-time job and grad school and his full-time job and time with his daughter. Several months later, Liz met Dominick’s daughter. He had specified in his profile, “We are a package deal,” and Liz appreciated that. While his daughter knew that Dominick was dating, he said “I wanted to make sure that this was going to be serious before I actually introduced Liz to her.” 

They had a front porch proposal!

In June of 2019, Liz and Dominick and his daughter vacationed with her parents, brother and his wife, and some family friends at her family’s cabin in the mountains. Dominick planned to propose during the trip, and to ask her Dad’s permission first. “But the one thing that turned out to be a problem was that when we left, I rushed out of the house and left the ring behind!” Three stressful days followed as Dominick feared that he had lost the ring. Finally, Dominick asked his dad back home to look around the house to see if he might have forgotten to bring the ring. Fortunately, the ring was there, safe and sound! 

While he contemplated delaying the proposal because he didn’t have the ring, Liz’s dad encouraged Dominick to ask her anyway. So that night, as the couple sat on the porch taking in the view of the mountain across the way and the mountain valley and river below them, Dominick got down on one knee. 

She asked him this when he proposed!

When Dominick asked her, “Do you want to marry me?”, Liz responded, “Is this a joke?” Dominick was taken completely aback. In her defense though, Liz said, “He didn’t have any ring, and he’s always pranking me!” Once she understood that he was “for real,” Liz gave him a resounding “yes!” 

A wedding in time of COVID...

The happy couple was married on June 5th, 2021. While COVID limited the number of people willing to attend the reception, the couple celebrated with fifty guests after a Mass attended by hundreds, including folks Liz knew from her job at the parish and others from Regnum Christi. 

In May of 2022, the couple welcomed their son Dominick into the world!

Their advice for singles struggling to trust in God’s plan and timing...

Liz and Dominick marvel at the timing of God’s providence, noting that the year Dominick lost his first wife was the same year Liz discerned out of consecrated life. Liz observed, “God’s timing is perfect….If things had been different, (our meeting) wouldn’t have happened.” 

And, some advice for widowers...

Dominick considers himself “one of the luckiest guys in the world to have found two wonderful women. I enjoyed 16 good years of marriage to my first wife, and we have a beautiful daughter.” Since his first wife had 3 bouts of cancer before her untimely death,  “We kind of expected something like this could happen. She told me, ‘you’re too young. You shouldn’t be alone.’ We had some of those tough conversations.” Dominick advises other widowers or widows, “There is life after your spouse passes away. You have another chance to find love.”