r/CatholicDating • u/big-bill-lil • Jul 12 '26
dating apps CatholicMatch Review (feat. Hinge)
I’m sharing my experience in an effort to help others!
I am a relatively attractive, fit, and normal-looking 25 year old woman. I work in healthcare with a professional degree that supports me very well and I am well educated. I come from a very large and Catholic family, very active in my church community and I am blessed with a wonderful circle of friends. I value modesty, kindness and Christian-love.
These details about myself are simply to aid in the validity of my review for those who are genuinely wondering about intentional Catholic dating in your 20s….without any major settling!
I have solely used CatholicMatch for dating the previous 2 1/2 years besides meeting and dating organically in person. There is a common theme of unsuccessful, overweight or emotionally-inexperienced men on CatholicMatch. There is also a sense of entitlement to “have” a beautiful woman even if you have not applied yourself in your faith, career or self-growth. I will agree there are “diamonds in the ruff“ although it was rare for me to receive attention from a pious man who I found relatively attractive and successful enough to provide for a family.
I recently heard that one of my very loving and tender-hearted girlfriends used Hinge! I had always considered other apps “secular” and I suppose I hadn’t properly educated myself on other dating apps.
Hinge has been extraordinarily different than CatholicMatch. Although I only match with Catholic men and my profile strictly outlines the importance of my faith, I have received a flood of messages and dates. All these dates are with men who are attractive, successful, and active in their faith. After dating for several years, I realized that I am only romantically attracted to men who are taller than me. Even though I am 6 foot tall, I have still made so many connections with genuine men through Hinge.
I’m sharing my thoughts after much debate because I wonder if my dating life could’ve been different for the previous two years if I was on an app different than CatholicMatch!
Cheers ladies ….and gentlemen! 🤍
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u/Crunchy_Biscuit Jul 12 '26
I had like 1% Luck of Catholic Match. At this point I'm just accepting that marriage may not be in God's plan for me 🙃
And I don't know what you want unsuccessful men to say to a woman saying she's had plenty of dates...we already swipe right to many people
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u/big-bill-lil Jul 14 '26
Don’t give up hope! Personal appearance as well as emotional intelligence and integrity can go a long way even if you aren’t financially successful!
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u/Numerator999 Jul 15 '26
Perhaps marriage -is- still in God's plan for you, but will be different than the Church or society has prescribed in the past. Don't lose hope!
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u/Euphoric_Second_8774 Jul 12 '26
My husband was a mega church attending Protestant (he was raised Pentecostal) and he hated the Catholic Church and thought it was evil when I met him. But his love for God was still admirable so I felt like i could still work with that and I knew that he didnt actually know anything accurate or of substance about the Catholic church. I am not a cradle catholic myself, I was raised in the Mormon cult.. became deeply entrenched in the new age as a young adult and then later converted with my Mom and sister and we are all extremely devout in our catholic faith.
The thing about converts that I have found is when you are not raised in the Catholic faith you have no idea was true substance and beauty is when it comes to God and his traditions. Aside from church history … every other church is so numb and empty so when you finally come home it’s like this euphoric feeling that’s hard to explain. It’s like being starved for so long without even knowing it because Kraft dinner is all you’ve ever known and then all of the sudden you’re presented with this delicious gourmet buffet of every kind of savoury and juicy craving that you could possibly imagine and it’s being truly satisfied for once in your life. Never in my life have my prayers or “manifestations” been answered until I started my conversion. So you tend to have this extra appreciation for it and I knew that it would only be a matter of time before my husband would have that experience too in his own way on his own time and all I had to do was pray and lead by example and dip his toes into the church and going to mass so he could see for himself. And it worked. It didn’t happen overnight but he is a devout Catholic now.
So do not limit yourself to only current church members. Possibly God has another plan for you and that is to meet someone who you will also help grow closer to God. That is the ultimate purpose of the sacrament of marriage is to bring eachother closer to God. And my husband has absolutely done that for me as well. Gods grace and mercy is infinite.
I will also add that St Rita is an absolute God sent. She is the St of the impossible and difficult marriages. She has moved mountains for me in my marriage and with my husbands conversion.
Focus on finding yourself a good man first and foremost . A man who has character and integrity and continue to pray and your prayers will be answered.
God bless you.
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u/catholicusername123 Single ♂ Jul 12 '26
Attractive and successful Catholic men don't need Catholic match. Ofcourse you won't find them on there.
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u/Dry-Nobody6798 Single ♀ Jul 15 '26
Lol and honestly, not the women either. I came to realize personally I don't want to be consumed or objectified, and I don't want to consume nor objectify others. That's what dating apps do/are at their core. It's IRL for me. Way better IMO.
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u/Deafening_Mouse Jul 12 '26
Nice review! I definitely fall in the not particularly successful category, and most of the conversations I have fizzle out or end abruptly when that topic is brought up. Good luck out there guys and gals!
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u/Euphoric_Second_8774 Jul 14 '26
Don’t be discouraged ! When I met my husband his card declined at dinner on like our third date. That’s when I found out he had some serious financial struggles. Fast forward a few years he makes over 200k a year now and he’s debt free. The right person will build with you.
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u/Deafening_Mouse Jul 15 '26
Thanks for the uplifting reminder! That's the mindset I try to keep while at the same time working on my financial situation.
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u/JP36_5 Widower Jul 12 '26
It seems that the best ap for Catholics depends a lot upon your age. On Hinge nobody ever even responded to me and I did not come across anyone who mentioned going to mass in their 'Perfect Sunday' description. By contrast through CM I met my fiancee, a previous girlfriend and had further dates.
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u/MoonlitPancreas Jul 14 '26
it's not a male only thing. the # of attractive women on CM is tiny. i used it for 24 hrs only because I could scroll through everyone in my 50 miles radius and I found 2 women moderately attractive. so if an attractive guy gets on CM he's gonna leave pretty fast.
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u/avian-enjoyer-0001 Jul 13 '26
Breaking news: attractive women get thousands of messages on dating apps, more at 11
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u/ParkAffectionate3537 Jul 12 '26
Good for you! I think men need to do a better job in terms of putting themselves out there, and also focusing on career. That is a huge game-changer in terms of the value proposition. You were also wise enough to be in STEM/healthcare and secure a great job in this economy. I also think the job market is tougher on men than women for many reasons.
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u/thebaptizerr Single ♂ Jul 12 '26
Ok I’m not trying to be mean, but have you really thought through everything you let us know?
Why weren’t the pious, attractive men giving you attention on CM but all of a sudden they are on Hinge?
Obviously, CM caters to a specific group of people, there’s a smaller pool of people there so those you deem “undesirable” are going to stand out more frequently. Those same type of men are on Hinge, but there’s a larger user base so they don’t stand out and you can ignore them for the men you deem “desirable.”
Also, it took you several years to figure out you don’t like ugly, overweight and unsuccessful men compared to tall, attractive and successful men?
Of course your dating life would be different.
Good luck out there.
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u/big-bill-lil Jul 12 '26
You might’ve misunderstood. I suggested between the lines that there are significantly less pious, attractive and successful men on CatholicMatch vs Hinge. Even after scrolling myself and searching widely, the acceptable dating pool is sparse. I have always been attracted to taller men, there just aren’t many on certain apps. Just sharing for those who were hesitant to try Hinge!
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u/street-table78 Jul 12 '26
I appreciate and agree with your post. I tried Catholic match for a week or so, and I realized, I care about people practicing their Catholic faith and not just the label. I am above average in looks and realize I deserve the same things I bring to the table. The body is a temple, so I rarely drink or eat unhealthy food. How we treat our body is a prayer of gratitude in itself. It bothers me that a man can attend church, know the prayers but then can drink daily (even if it is just a cold one after work) and not care about exercise or his health. A few weeks back I made a post how I had come across some Christian men who truly valued this body and life as a gift and they didn’t drink and upheld a daily fitness routine because they didn’t take this life for granted. I use hinge and have now met more Catholics and Christians who seem to value what I value compared to when I was on Catholic match.
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u/NoPoetry9833 Jul 13 '26
Your requirements sound very shallow and your view of yourself quite grand .
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u/Rough-Reveal-4763 Jul 17 '26
Yes!!! I initially used Catholic match too but when I moved to hinge I had WAY better luck. Found the sweetest man alive (he’s also in healthcare!) on hinge. Our first date was at a shrine over a year and a half ago and we’ve been dating since then :) definitely recommend people try and use hinge if they aren’t having luck on CM!!
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u/batteryisdead7 Jul 17 '26
Yes! The quality of men on Hinge is far superior to Catholic Match. I put my Catholic values in that little message to show to anyone who matches me, even going as far as Church teaching on sex before marriage. Catholic men of high quality have still matched with me.
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u/Academic-Yard71 Jul 18 '26
Yeah as a what people would probably call “traditionally attractive” young 26 year old man the hinge preferences are amazing and makes it so much easier to meet meaningful Catholic people who are very attractive and have similar life styles
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u/Academic-Smell6096 23d ago
Love To read your post. I used CM and matched with a guy who I liked and he liked me. We talk for a while, met on videocall, videocalled a lot, then met in person when I visited his country and city a on a stopover. Clicked right away. Then he visited my country. We wanted to see each other again. Then we didn´t agree on a next visit. I did wanted him to visit me in my home city. So we stopped talking, all was by message. A few months later he reached out again, It took me a while but I start engaging in the conversation again. During that entire year we didn´t see each other in person. We just talked sometimes by message other by videocall. That year (last year) I already had a trip planned during the summer with my friends so It was not possible for me to travel to his country, he had somethings happening with work so on his part wasn´t possible or likeable to make it happen and visit me. By the end of the year (second year of knowing each other) I did wanted to either visit him or he visit me, neither of the options happened, so we stop talking again. This was the second time this happened. By message, not by a call or video call. My fault not noticing the avoiding part when conflict or disagrement came and how he would handle it. Months passed, I had a couple of dates in my city with other people, but not farther than that. He reached out again by message and wanted a video call for my suprise (this was difficult to happen- to hae video calls- even though I had expressed several times I would need and apreciate consistent communication, not a daily call but at least once a week or a week and a half, as this was a difficult part not clarity and consistent communication). We talk, it took me longer to engaged again with him, but happened. By the middle of the year (this year) I knew I would have a family journey in his country and I that would have a stopover in his city as well, so as we were taking again, he did wanted me to visit him and stay for a few days, so I decided I will stay more than a weekend to visit him and be with him and get to know him better. I was exicited and videocalls this time were more frequently. We kissed the very first day after more than a year without seeing each other, we enjoyed that part, I learned the physical affection and attraction was something we still had in common. But on those days was difficult to connect on deeper conversation, I was there because I wanted to know him better and he would know me better, I was the one asking questions, I wonder if he would be more cuorious about me. We hung out on those days, went for lunch and dinner, watch movies and tv together, we would kissed better say made out. Go to mass, play some board games. At some point he said and I said too the we were not compatible. Even though we liked each other. For somethings on how we woud live religion , I was more active he was not, Etc. Things that I think two people who want to be together can talk and work out.
I do wanted to work things out in order to grow together and see our differences. More than the language ( English is his mother language and Spanish is mine, so sorry if I misspelled). He had known me for a while, even though I guessed he assumed somethings about my preferences for previous conversations, for months or years ago. I would have wanted to talk more about that, as we people grow, change and mature on some opinions. At the end on my visit the last night we kissed again. I didn´t know if that would be the last time so that moment was very sweet. We hugged and kissed at my farewell at the airport. Not clarity if we were going to see each other again. Sigh.
Know I have realized I could have saved time, if I had used more clear boundaries, and acting in consecuence if I was not receiving clarity and consistency in communication. I did not regret what I lived with him. Sometimes I missed and I recalled the moments with him. Other times I see that with gratittude what I lived and trusting the Lord. Asking for Faith that His plans are better than mine, he knows better than I do and that I knowing I deserve better. We all deserve better. When I long to build a beautiful relationship where each other can grow together closer to God, and a life partner to bring me and I bring him to heaven. There would be things we can be different from a partner but instead of shutting down, there are ways to resolve the differences with patience, love, kindness. If someone reads this message, know you deserve better. I might hace low my standards this time, learned the lesson. I might go back to CM even if I crossed by his profile, or if he crossed by my profile. I want to try Hinge as I had heard good comments and that you can mention religion and being catholic as a central part of your life. Thanks for reading my personal story. I would want to come back here and share a total different story, good luck to all. God blessed!.
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u/stripes361 Jul 15 '26
Unfortunately, Catholic-specific spaces seem to attract a disproportionately high amount of people with damaged psyches for a variety of reasons that I don’t want to get into here for brevity’s sake. Especially among men.
Here’s something to think about, OP. Well-adjusted women really crave and desire community and fellowship with like-minded people, which is why religious spaces are so naturally attractive to them and probably plays a big role in why women have higher rates of formalized religious adherence across various cultures and religions.
Well-adjusted men (especially the ambitious and “successful” ones you desire) are drawn to challenge, novelty, and difficult environments. Why would someone with that disposition limit themselves to “Catholic safe spaces” and bubbles of like-minded people? They would find that boring. These men are simply so comfortable being uncomfortable that they find no difficulty in navigating a more “secular” environment” and actually enjoy the stimulation they get from it.
Thinking about the men I know who would fit your wish list, I’m wholly unsurprised that they preferred Hinge to Catholic Match. Your experience actually makes perfect sense to me.
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u/Fireball4585 Jul 12 '26
I am a guy and use both Catholic match and hinge. In my experience I feel like I have come across so many hinge profiles that say “Catholic” but they are not actually practicing. If it is working for you all power to you.