- Feb 5, 2002
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Singles weigh in on the success and challenges of using modern technology to find love and marry.
In his new biography of Pope Benedict XVI, Peter Seewald relates how, long before the internet, Catholics found ways to enter into sacramental marriage and raise children with people who matched their interests but who were not already part of their established social lives. Indeed, the future pontiff’s mother and father met through the personal ads.
Seewald describes how a small-town Bavarian policeman named Joseph placed a notice in a popular Catholic weekly on July 11, 1920. It read, “Mid. Civ. Serv. Sgl. Cath. 43 y, clean past, from the country, seeks gd Cath. Pure girl, gd cook & all hswk, loc. Exper., with fur., to marry asap [translation: Middle-ranking civil servant, single, Catholic, 43, clean past, from the country, seeks good Catholic, pure girl who is a good cook and does all household chores, experienced in homemaking, with a view to marriage as soon as possible].” Joseph had previously advertised unsuccessfully for a young woman with a dowry. On this occasion, Maria, age 36, became a successful match. The pair were married less than four months later. In time, their union would produce three children who distinguished themselves in the service of Christ and his Church. As a result of this union, on Holy Saturday in 1927, 43-year-old Mrs. Ratzinger gave birth to the future pope.
Like Joseph and Maria Ratzinger, not everyone gets to marry their old high school sweethearts. And during these strange times, tools of the digital age, whether their users stick with them for long or not, may provide a sign of hope that young Catholics who believe they are called to marriage want to figure out how to fulfill their vocations, settle down and have traditional families, despite current events.
During the global pandemic, which has brought long periods of confinement at home for most people, Catholics have continued to meet people, date and marry over the last year.
Continued below.
Matchmaking Amid Pandemic: Catholic Dating Apps
In his new biography of Pope Benedict XVI, Peter Seewald relates how, long before the internet, Catholics found ways to enter into sacramental marriage and raise children with people who matched their interests but who were not already part of their established social lives. Indeed, the future pontiff’s mother and father met through the personal ads.
Seewald describes how a small-town Bavarian policeman named Joseph placed a notice in a popular Catholic weekly on July 11, 1920. It read, “Mid. Civ. Serv. Sgl. Cath. 43 y, clean past, from the country, seeks gd Cath. Pure girl, gd cook & all hswk, loc. Exper., with fur., to marry asap [translation: Middle-ranking civil servant, single, Catholic, 43, clean past, from the country, seeks good Catholic, pure girl who is a good cook and does all household chores, experienced in homemaking, with a view to marriage as soon as possible].” Joseph had previously advertised unsuccessfully for a young woman with a dowry. On this occasion, Maria, age 36, became a successful match. The pair were married less than four months later. In time, their union would produce three children who distinguished themselves in the service of Christ and his Church. As a result of this union, on Holy Saturday in 1927, 43-year-old Mrs. Ratzinger gave birth to the future pope.
Like Joseph and Maria Ratzinger, not everyone gets to marry their old high school sweethearts. And during these strange times, tools of the digital age, whether their users stick with them for long or not, may provide a sign of hope that young Catholics who believe they are called to marriage want to figure out how to fulfill their vocations, settle down and have traditional families, despite current events.
During the global pandemic, which has brought long periods of confinement at home for most people, Catholics have continued to meet people, date and marry over the last year.
Continued below.
Matchmaking Amid Pandemic: Catholic Dating Apps
