The distance kept them apart. The snow and ice brought them together.
Matt, 34, is an accountant in Lincoln, Nebraska. Past relationships cautioned him about the challenges of a long distance relationship. He was looking for someone who lived closer to him. Matt met Catie, 30, a teaching assistant, on CatholicMatch. Unfortunately, she lived 450 miles away in Royalton, Minnesota.
Before joining CatholicMatch, Catie spent eight years discerning religious life. She had recently discerned a call to marriage, and was new to dating. She knew she might have to venture outside her small community to find a husband.
After filling out their match portraits and being matched with each other, the two began exchanging emails, followed soon by phone and video chats.
The depth and peace of those early exchanges were enough for Matt to be cautiously open to a long distance correspondence.
“I was impressed by Catie’s strong faith, desire to have a family, and deep understanding of what it means to love,” says Matt. He knew it was important to meet early to see if any connections formed were authentic. Matt did not want their feelings to be rooted in an ideal, but in the truth of who the other is.
They decided to meet in Worthington, Minnesota, halfway between Lincoln and Royalton.
After a night of deep conversation, the two decided to pray together and discuss how each felt about the date before they departed. Matt was scared to go first.
“I knew I wanted to date Catie and felt a deep sense of peace and joy in her presence, but was not sure how she felt about our date,” he confesses. Matt asked Catie to share her thoughts first. To his relief, she felt the same way he did.
Filled with joy, they agreed to begin officially dating.
They discussed plans for their next meeting. As they talked, the snow and ice accumulated. They both decided it would be wise to stay in Worthington for the night. It would be the first of several times inclement weather prevented them from traveling home, situations they describe as “wonderful blessings in disguise as it allowed us to spend more time together.”
A couple weeks later, Catie and Matt met again in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It was the Easter season. They attended their first Mass together, and shared their first kiss. Both knew in their hearts they would eventually get married.
“We both felt a deep and abiding peace about our relationship. We knew with utter clarity that this was of God, and was forever,” Matt says. “In Catie, I found someone who has an amazing faith and shares my desire to raise a family in the Church. She sees and appreciates the good in me in a way no one else ever has.” He says Catie’s holiness, simplicity, humor, and patience resonated deeply with him.
Still, Matt wanted to give her time to discern, and to experience the ups and downs of a dating relationship. He felt that six months was the minimum length required to date before getting engaged. But Catie confided that she did not want to wait that long.
Matt was surprised at first, but after some thought and prayer, decided there was no reason to stick to an arbitrary timeline. “Relationships develop in an organic way, and everyone’s experience is different,” Matt shares. “For some people, it takes years to get to forever. For us, it was much quicker.”
“It was an unexpected grace to know so early on that we had found the one.”
In May 2018, three months after meeting on CatholicMatch, Matt joked that he only disliked one thing about their relationship: the distance between them. Catie revealed that she had been making plans to move to be closer to him. By June, she was in Lincoln.
“Living in the same city allowed us to see what it was like to have a much wider range of experiences together,” they say. The two found assurance in the fact that they felt joy in the most mundane of experiences—sharing meals, getting groceries, and going for walks.
Matt wanted to give Catie time to settle in to Lincoln, but hinted that he might propose soon after she moved there. On a hot June Saturday, the couple explored state parks in the area. As the sun fell, Matt asked Catie to accompany him to one of their favorite spots, Branched Oak Lake. As they sat on a blanket watching the sun set, Matt said he had to go back to the car for a moment. He returned with wine, an “Always and Forever” balloon, a photo book of their shared experiences…and a ring. Catie said yes.
Matt and Catie are finalizing their wedding plans for November 2018. They are looking for a house, and hope to have children. As Catie pursues a career in special education, Matt works as an accountant for the state of Nebraska.
“I am truly grateful for CatholicMatch, and am so excited that I have found someone to journey through life with,” Matt shares. “I hope and pray for all on this site to find what Catie and I have found in each other.”
