How We Met: Renate's Version

Once a Catholic woman reaches age 30 and finds herself still single with no romantic prospects in sight, she starts wondering if God is calling her to give up all the things of the world to become a nun…Renate wrestled with the idea for a couple years, convincing herself she could take on the single life for God, that children were way too much work anyway, and that being a nun was probably “easier” than raising a family. But a real desire for religious life never manifested, and when Renate took some time to be honest with herself, she knew what she really wanted was a best friend and lifelong companion—one with whom she could be completely herself and share Earthly life.

So, as someone who didn’t get out much and avoided social interaction when possible, Renate’s first instinct was to go to Reddit. She didn’t think much would come out of introducing herself on the Catholic Dating page, except that maybe she’d get some practice sticking up for herself and turning people down. James responded to her post. They found out they lived just 15 minutes away from each other. They exchanged phone numbers, and with very little else to go on, they met in person.

On the way to their first date, Renate told herself that just because James said he was 6’ 3” didn’t mean he was handsome. She was pleasantly surprised to find out he wasn’t bad-looking at all.

When Renate found out she and James shared a love of carnival rides, she knew she had to get to know him better. However, their relationship didn’t start off as the fairytale Renate envisioned. Both hugs and kisses were awkward! Conversation didn’t always flow! They were going from zero to dating in the blink of an eye! Renate needed all her courage and self-confidence to be able to advocate for what she wanted—and James responded with more patience, love, and acceptance than she could have possibly imagined.

Time has shown Renate what a wonderful man James is. He has helped her grow in ways she never dreamed. He makes her want to be a better person. He’s already her cheerleader, biggest supporter, and biggest fan of her writing. He gets her outside! He laughs at her sarcasm and jokes! He gives Renate a sense of peace and certainty that her future is with him. Renate believes that God has abundantly blessed her through James, and she is ready to embrace whatever their life together brings them.

How We Met: James' Version

A not too brief story of how I met the love of my life:

Around April of 2022, I decided to start attending Mass in the Catholic Church again on Easter of that year and slowly began to start practicing in my faith and trying to do better in my relationship with Jesus. I’m still far from perfect, however, but I would soon be led to someone who would help in that relationship.

In Summer 2022, I was about to start a Master’s program in accounting at the University of Vermont. I was not exactly looking around for somebody to date, nor did I know what God had in store for me. I stumbled upon a Catholic community on Reddit one day, which led me on that same day to another related subreddit for Catholics who were looking to date. I had never had any experience or “success” so to speak in dating online, but I decided to browse the matchmaking thread, which is a monthly post where people all over the world can post that they’re looking for someone special. I happened to come across a post where a 32 year old woman in Vermont was single, and within a few minutes I decided that I had absolutely nothing to lose and sent her a message saying how nice it was to see another Vermonter and that I was in the Burlington area.

Within a few messages of mostly gaining background details on each other, I asked her to meet me in the park in downtown Burlington. We did not exchange any photos and neither of us asked the other to do so. On Sunday, August 14, 2022, I watched as a nervous looking, but beautiful, woman came up to me and asked if I was James. I pronounced her name correctly, Renate, as she had mentioned when we shared our names in Reddit direct messaging. This was the first thing I did well, as Renate has had frustrating experiences all her life of people pronouncing her name wrong (just like with my last name). We spent a scenic summer evening getting ice cream, talking about our lives as walked along the boardwalk near Lake Champlain, and ending with a hug on Church Street.

The way we came together was unconventional, and we were both a little afraid to tell the details as to how we met at first outside of just generally saying we “met online”, but now, we both embrace it and love telling how two people living 15 minutes away might have never found their spouse without social media (and some prodding from God, I’m sure). A little more than a year later, we both felt ready to take the next step which has led to this website and a sacrament to celebrate! I knew after the first date that I had met somebody different, but I never in a million years could have imagined that I would come to the point where I’m about to make lifelong vows to love the very same person I met over an innocent message.

Registry

Getting something personalized? Then PLEASE NOTE THAT RENATE'S NAME ENDS WITH AN "E." If anything comes to us spelled "Renata" (or some incorrect variation thereof) we'll be reaching out to you to fix it. Sorry. Lifetime of misspelled-name trauma...