God is good, and His plans are always better than our own. Hope and Vinny’s love story is truly a testament to that. Hope grew up on Long Island, New York and attended college at Ave Maria University in Florida. Vinny grew up in Cincinnati and went to college at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. The fact they ended up in the same place at the same time is nothing short of the work of God.

After college, Hope felt called to move away from home and go to Kentucky for work, somewhere she never expected to go, let alone live. God had some big plans for her. The next summer, Vinny took an internship at the same company in order to finish off his master’s degree. Hope found an open seat and sat next to Vinny at lunch one day during his first week, and they soon spent time working together on a project while both helping a different department. Through those first interactions, Hope and Vinny realized very quickly that they got along very, very well.

As the summer went on, they became friends, started dating, and spent lots of time getting to know each other. However, that was just the start of the story... Vinny had always had some thoughts about discerning priesthood, and although he liked Hope a lot, he felt he needed to end the relationship in its early stages. He then took the time to see if God was calling him to seminary. Obviously, that was no easy thing for Hope to deal with, and it brought their summer romance to a quick end as the fall started and they continued to work at the same place, but in separate lanes.

Vinny discerned, Hope prayed constantly for him and that God’s will would be done. As winter began, Hope received a job offer somewhere new and was leaving the place she had worked for 1.5 years. She just couldn’t leave without telling him in person that she was going. They hadn’t been talking at all, but after work that day, they talked for an hour and a half in the same easy way they had during the summer. All throughout the conversation they both knew there was still something there, but Vinny was discerning, Hope was moving on to a new job, and they were giving each other space to do what they needed to do. Even though Hope did go off to her new job and they continued not to talk, things were different for them both after that conversation.

Vinny went on retreats, talked to priests, family, friends, and seminarians, and prayed all the time. But even as he tried to put her out of his mind while he discerned, he never fully stopped thinking about Hope. Later on, they discovered that unknowingly, they both regularly went to the same adoration chapel to pray, sometimes just hours apart, but never at the same time. Eventually, Vinny had discerned that he was not being called to go to seminary, regardless of whether they were meant to be together or not.

One Sunday in February, Hope and Vinny accidentally ended up at the same place in truly something only God could have orchestrated. Hope’s friends had been inviting her to go to Latin Mass for over a year and for some reason that day she finally went with them. That morning, when Vinny decided what Mass to go to, he chose the Latin Mass at Old Saint Mary’s in part because he knew Hope did not go there. He was trying to wait to talk with her until after he had met with the Vocations Director to let him know he would not be going to seminary in the fall, and that meeting was still scheduled for two weeks away. As Hope went into Mass that day she thought without a doubt that Vinny would not be there, yet she couldn’t get him out of her head. After receiving Holy Communion and praying a bit, she opened her eyes to see him walking right towards her down the aisle as he was walking to his pew in the back.

After Mass, Hope and her friend Norah stayed outside of the church, and a few minutes later Vinny walked out. The three of them talked for a while, and Hope left more confused than ever about what God wanted for them since she did not know where he was in his discernment.

Four days later, Vinny decided he couldn’t wait until his next meeting with the Vocations Director because he already knew what he was going to tell him. And so after another evening of praying in adoration and then excitedly calling his mom to let her know what he was about to do, he called Hope and asked if she would be open to meeting up and talking more intentionally than they did after Mass.

The next day they went to a park and talked for two hours about everything that had been going on in their lives, and by the end of the conversation, Vinny asked Hope if he could take her on a date. That night, they went to a Valentine’s Day dance and ever since they’ve been madly in love.

Since that day, they’ve lived through so much life together. They’ve had so much growth, adventure, excitement and love. Through distance, injuries, and other challenges, they have been so grateful for each other and how God brought them back together. God’s ways are not our ways, and thank goodness, because His are so much better.

Registry