On January 1st of 2021, Deirdre was at mass in Texas during a visit with friends. As she held her friend's baby in the back of Latin mass, she had a moment of realization: 'I desire this.' She went home that day and made a Catholic match on a whim, but she used her middle name, "Anne" because "Deirdre" is such a unique name and people would know it was her if she saw friends' profiles on there! Tyler was home visiting his family for Christmas and also decided to try out Catholic match, but he didn't know there was an app, so it was slow going filling out. All he had on his profile when "Anne" came across it was "I like steak," but he was cute (w/ a beard!), loved the Latin mass, and wanted a big family, so she liked his profile. Tyler messaged her, they had an immediate connection, and they exchanged novels on Catholic Match for two weeks until Tyler asked for her phone number. They had their first phone call on January 15, and Tyler asked if he could come up to Harrisburg and take her on a first date...

One reason Tyler and Deirdre had mutual interest based on their Catholic Match profiles was that they both wanted to pursue courtship, which is a very intentional, chaste, and discerning method of dating. Tyler drove up to Harrisburg on January 23, the Feast of the Betrothal of Mary and Joseph (neither of them realizing that was the feast day at the time!). This was when Pennsylvania was on lockdown, so there was absolutely nothing to do indoors. They met up outside of Mater Dei Catholic Church and walked to a market where they got coffee and Amish pretzels. In 20-degree weather with strong winds, they walked by the river and found a spot to shelter from the wind on City Island to eat their food. They walked and talked for two hours and then went to pray a holy hour at Mater Dei. It ended with Tyler asking Deirdre to see her again. Thus began a month of going on dates, asking intentional questions, and growing more comfortable with one another (ie: the dynamics of one introvert and one extrovert). On Valentine's Day, they decided to official enter into a courtship (permission pending from Deirdre's dad, of course). On Saturday, February 20th, Tyler and Deirdre went to Philadelphia, where he met her immediate family and asked her dad for permission to pursue courtship with Deirdre. He gave permission, and they began to be in an exclusive courtship on February 20. For more courtship info // https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1V4w38v2mI

Tyler and Deirdre courted for eight months before engagement, and these were beautiful months of travels, memories, intentional conversations, many rosaries and holy hours, and discerning if the Lord was calling them to marriage with one another. Courtship is a phase of intentional and chaste discernment, where a couple refrains from all physical affection and from saying "I love you." The self-control and discipline required for pure courtship is beautiful and so worth it! It is a great phase of discernment for seeing if you - and the other person - are capable of such sacrifice out of care for the other and the discernment. In June, they flew to South Dakota to visit Tyler's family, and the trip was great family time and memories as well as good discernment of how they handled difficult situations (delays, stranded overnight in layover cities, and missed connections). Another highlight from courtship was Deirdre and Tyler taking a trip to Texas in July where he got to see so much of her life from her time there.

To be sure that entering into the Sacrament of Marriage together was the will of God, Deirdre and Tyler prayed a 54 day rosary novena together throughout August and September, which went very well. At the end of the novena, they both felt confident that they were supposed to be together and move forward. On Saturday, October 23, exactly nine months from their first meeting in person, Tyler and Deirdre attended morning mass at Mater Dei. Afterwards, they were praying a holy hour in the church amidst the hustle and bustle of the church's weekly cleaning. Deirdre was unaware that Tyler was about to propose and his concerns over whether the vacuuming and loud noises would ever stop! Fortunately, towards the end of their holy hour, the cleaning wrapped up, and he asked her to go pray at the altar rail in the front of the church. After saying some thanksgivings and petitions aloud, Tyler turned to Deirdre and asked for her hand in marriage, which was answered with a wholehearted "yes"! They were betrothed to one another on Saturday, February 26, 2022.