Online Dating....I'm a fan! ; )

During the homily at our wedding mass, Fr. Jack shared that Adam and I were the first couple he married who had met online.  What a cool distinction of all the many many many couples Jack married!!  I'm glad we're notable for something..ha!

Then, I got to thinking about the guests who attended our wedding.  Of the approximately 115, about 30 were our immediate family so of the 85 remaining people, off the top of my head, I can think of five couples who met online other than Adam and myself that is.  Two and a half couples are married with some adorable children (the one couple met indirectly sort of through a dating site at an associated event).  Another has been dating for 2+ years while another is in the beginning months of courting.  Last, but not least, a fifth couple has been together for the last seven months as a result of meeting online.  Counting Adam and me, that makes 6.5 couples who met through a dating site who were involved at our wedding/reception and that is just counting the ones I know of...who knows if there might be more couples?!  Below is my informal tally of which sites were responsible for these pairings: 


CatholicMatch (3.5)
AveMariaSingles.com (1)
Eharmony (1)

Match.com (1)

It looks like CM is in the lead but that finding is somewhat skewed due to the large number of Catholic Young Adults who were present on May 23rd.  In a somewhat related thought, I read this article the other day on Dating and Courtship in the Digital Age by a colleague from work.  Other than the fact that I love that I work with someone who has this viewpoint, my favorite part of this article was:

Our partner is the person who helps us grow in healthy and meaningful ways, to grow to be better persons on our journey to sainthood. This is not easily made evident in online selfies and self-profiles, and is certainly not at the core of shallow relationships that seek self-satisfaction rather than the gift of self to the other. The choice to act in ways that discipline random urges and instead renew commitments to each other daily is key, as is the refusal to settle for lust but instead choose to love and sacrifice for the other. No matter how much we abhor sacrifice (and suffering) as a culture, the inescapable fact is that love and sacrifice are inseparable. 

Adam and I also got a chuckle out of reading this part...:

Does the TIME article satisfactorily reflect the reality of online courtship? My own experience suggests otherwise. Yes, I met my lovely and loving wife Cindy Marie online. After a process of discerning my vocation, including an openness to the possibility of the religious life, my spiritual director said it’s marriage. That brought the next perplexing question of how to go about meeting my future bride. I had already graduated. The company I worked at wasn’t large. I didn’t go to bars. The parish church I went to didn’t have singles groups. Ogling girls at Mass would be, to say the least, distracting. Finding a Catholic girl who is passionate about Our Lord being the first and foremost love of her life didn’t look easy, at least not in any ‘traditional’ way. A friend of mine who is a religious sister was praying for me before Our Lord and suggested that I go online to AveMariaSingles. The first thought that crossed my mind was: meat market. I wasn’t enthralled by the idea and waffled for a while, but on further prayer and reflection, Our Lord said gently to me that just as He called St. Peter at his job, He was calling me at mine. That was a revelation: I was a media professional and I didn’t trust the media. It was also a breakthrough. Not only did it finally get me online (Our Father works fast: I met Cindy within a week at that site), it also got me passionately researching what the Catholic worldview of media truly is, culminating in a book (but that’s another story). 

Upon reading that Eugene was online for about a week before he and Cindy met, Adam scoffed, "a week?!  That's a long time!  Try a day buddy" since he had only just put up his profile on a Saturday night before I reached out to him on a Monday at lunch time.  ; )

So, yeah, we may have been Fr. Jack's first couple who met online but I have a feeling that we won't be his last!