Glenn Didn't Like Any of His Matches

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Neither Glenn nor Carmela were very optimistic about online dating.

Glenn, 27, had been on other dating sites before including ChristianMingle, Match, and eHarmony. He was on these sites in the hopes of finding good, like-minded people to be around— something he found difficult during his time with the military and during his career as a police officer. He had met a few people from these websites who were good Christians, but no one he could connect with. “My 'matches' were matches in the fact that the relationships just burned to the ground,” says Glenn who was living in South Carolina, but staying in Colorado for a short time for Army training.

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For him, something was missing with online dating scene, and he was tired of trying. However, both his mother and his spiritual director, a close friend and priest in the Arlington Diocese, encouraged him to try CatholicMatch and AveMaria Singles. “Finally, I decided to join CatholicMatch without any real expectation. I spent some time reaching out to my 'matches', but I was discouraged by continual rejections and no real matches of actual substance. All of the matches that were 100% were really 100% wrong.”

Finding an Unexpected Match—A Gal That Likes to Shoot

Glenn decided to give it one last shot while visiting his family in the D.C. Area. “I scrolled through the pages and the profiles and found nothing.' I decided to click on a random page number and halfway down, I found my future bride to be, Carmela," he remembers.

Carmela, 28, from Arlington, VA, had been talked into joining CatholicMatch by her mother. “I wasn’t expecting anything out of it, to be honest.”

Looking at the profiles, she never found anyone she was remotely interested in until she received a message from Glenn. “I still wasn’t expecting anything to happen. But I signed up for a one-month subscription to talk to him.”

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In April of 2015, they exchanged phone numbers, and Carmela was the first one to send a text. They clicked immediately because they had so much to talk about. “We were brought up similarly and we thought the same way about a lot of things.”

After a month of texting, she recalls having their first phone conversation while she was at work; they discussed faith, goals, and shooting. “I was so nervous. I don’t know why. I could have talked to him on the phone forever. I felt like I had known him my entire life. I was very optimistic at this point.”

During his conversation with Carmela, Glenn decided that their first date, if they ever were to meet, would be at Mass.

Praying for Guidance

Glenn always prayed for his future wife, but three months after initiating contact with Carmela, he began a Novena to Our Blessed Mother on his midnight shifts, praying for a woman that emulated her. “At this point, I felt a spiritual pull on my heart telling me to quit the police department and to move back to VA.” The more he prayed, especially with his spiritual director, the more he felt that he needed to end his four-year career as a policeman and move back to VA, where he grew up.

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“I was petrified of not having a secure career in VA, although I had many promising leads. This was totally unlike me, but I felt a calling and a peace about moving.” So he put in his two-weeks notice the ninth day of the Novena and then moved without reservations.

Heaven must have been pulling strings for Glenn because, on the day he moved back to VA (July 24), he was contacted by an executive protection company about a position, which he began the following day.

Move to Virginia and First Date

Three days after he moved back, he had his first date with Carmela July 27. “I was at peace with going on the date just as I was at peace with moving back to VA.”

For their first date, they were supposed to attend Mass together, but Carmela was running late after work and they missed Thursday evening Mass. They compromised by praying the chaplet together and going to dinner. “It was honestly the best date I’d ever been on. We just clicked and got along so well. I just couldn’t believe there was a man out there who loved and lived his faith,” she says.

Meeting Each Other’s Families & Asking for Permission

A few days after their first date, Carmela met Glenn’s family. “They were so welcoming and kind. I really enjoyed meeting them.”

Two weeks later, Glenn bought plane tickets to Albuquerque, so they could go visit Carmela’s family and attend her niece's baptism. Glenn got along great with everyone and noticed a spiritual peace about being with Carmela—the same spiritual pull and peace as moving to VA again. “I had no idea what Our Blessed Mother had going on in the works, but I knew I was okay with it when I asked for Carmela’s father's blessing without any hesitation.”

The funny thing is Glenn hadn’t planned on asking for her father’s blessing on that trip; it just happened. His popping the question a month later, on September 6, 2015, was also spontaneous. “I had picked up the ring, had it sized for her super tiny fingers, and I had it in my pocket. I had no intention of proposing until All Saints Day because what better way to get engaged than saying, ‘I want to help make you a saint.’”

He had been praying to Saint Joseph, asking him to help him be courageous, loving, caring,

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compassionate, and to be a gentle husband and father like St. Joseph was. That same evening, Glenn and Carmela went for a picnic and he proposed. “I'm not sure exactly what I said, chiefly because I had no idea I was going to ask, but I do remember saying at the end, ‘So... will you marry me?' It felt like an eternity waiting for her to answer; even so, I still felt at peace.

Carmela adds, “I was never one to rush into anything, especially something that is such a big commitment. We had talked about marriage before, however, I was completely surprised when he proposed!”

Even though Carmela was surprised, she knew that Glenn was the one after their first date, so she couldn’t have been happier when he asked her to marry him.

Wedding Plans

The couple will be married on October 15, 2016, at St. Theresa's church in Ashburn, VA. Carmela has chosen plum and green for their wedding colors. “So far we have our entire wedding party (five bridesmaids and five groomsmen), our venue (St. Joseph's church in Ashburn, VA), and the priest marrying us (Glenn's lifelong friend Father James Searby who will also be doing our pre-Cana classes) arranged. We and both of our families are so excited!” Carmela beams.

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