Christian marriage: a great hopeCatholic Match is an online Catholic dating service. Currently, it is the most popular in the world and has many success stories, some of which it shares in its web page.
The goal of this service is to enable Catholic singles from all over the world who feel called to marriage to meet each other. This work is done with respect and the Catholic Match team guarantees security and respect for privacy.
In addition to helping people find each other, the website has content to help couples in their relationship, reflections on singleness and discernment, or marriage advice.
In this interview with Omnes, Mariette Rintoul, director of community experience at Catholic Match, talks about the services offered by this platform, the changes dating has undergone today, and the challenges they face in ensuring that virtual connections are not dehumanizing.
How did Catholic Match start?
- Brian and Jason, our co-founders, felt there was a great need for a Catholic-specific service after meeting and becoming friends at a church picnic in 1999. Shortly thereafter they founded CatholicMatch, and we've been growing rapidly ever since.
How has dating changed in our era?
- Dating in our "swipe right" culture has become increasingly superficial compared to earlier times. Many are not looking for a genuine, lasting commitment, and the standard for determining whether someone is worth getting to know is based on how attractive they look in a photo you see for a few seconds.
What is the difference between Catholic Match and other dating apps?
- We introduce our faith as the main point of connection, along with carefully crafted profiles that really help to present other members as complete and unique individuals.
We have a matching feature, but we also encourage members to use our search feature, featured members section, and other areas of the app to explore who is out there and to connect based on shared interests and values.
People have a lot of trust issues when it comes to online dating, how do you help them overcome that?
- We try to help with trust issues in several ways. We teach our users basic safety guidelines for both in-app messaging and in-person encounters, as well as red flags to watch out for. This is helpful for anyone who is concerned about safety.
We also offer members several opportunities to connect face-to-face. We offer video chat within our app and website so you can see the other person and have a great conversation without having to exchange any contact information off-site. In addition, this fall we will again be offering live video speed dating, which also allows you to make great connections with other real people, in real time.
Finally, we have a great collection of success stories that are incredibly encouraging to read on CatholicMatch Plus. Seeing so many other people who have found their match on the site helps if anyone is feeling a little uncomfortable about meeting people online.
You also publish content related to dating relationships, what are the basics Catholics should know about dating?
- I think it is vital for Catholics to remember that each person is unique, and we should not obsess over a dream list of what our perfect person will look like when we date.
Our success stories are full of people who found love with someone whose location, age, education level, profession, parental status and more were not what they were initially open to. There has to be a balance between knowing what things are important to you, being open to each person's particular situations and allowing yourself to be pleasantly surprised as you get to know people.
How can we keep a relationship that starts on the Internet personal?
- We encourage people to thoroughly complete profiles with multiple photos so they can get to know each other early on. Our video chat feature helps people make a real connection without having to wait to meet in person. (I met my own husband on the site and the video chat made it much more "real" for me than when we were just emailing or even calling each other on the phone).
Our live speed dating allows you to connect more organically with other members as if you were at an in-person event, and we will be adding other live events such as trivia nights and happy hours so members can mingle with other singles face-to-face.
