I would go further and say it is for many their best hope to get married to compatible, faithful Catholics. The difference here is that you know that with very few exceptions all of the people registered at reputable Catholic online services are serious about getting married. Otherwise, they would not spend the time or money to belong. There are also many safeguards in place to assure that you will be generally dealing with a "quality" person online. Predators are not welcome and in any case are discovered easily. No one should ever consider himself or herself "hopeless."

Everyone is a child of God and if it is God's will that they marry, such a service may provide a means to seriously explore that possibility. I have known several men and women in their late thirties or early forties who were close to despair about their marriage possibilities but are now married or engaged through a Catholic online service.

Why do you recommend an online service to the single men and women you know? What benefits do you think such a service provides? Conversely, why do you think such a service might be a better idea than trying to meet people in more conventional ways?

As Rodgers and Hammerstein put it, "Getting to Know You" is the key. You cannot even begin to know another person unless there is communication, which as many married couples will testify is the key to a successful marriage. This communication develops in several ways in marriage but a great beginning and jump start can be made through written correspondence.

An online service is a high-tech form of written communication. After all, before Alexander Graham Bell, how do you think courting couples communicated when they were away from one another, which was often most of the time? They wrote to one another! Read your Jane Austen for some fictional nineteenth century examples. What could be more romantic?

What advice would you give to people who are just patently uncomfortable with the idea of meeting a total stranger on the Internet?

Quite simply, they should just logon and read the dozens of testimonials of people who, in many cases, were just like them but were willing to dive off the high board head first into the sea of members. In many cases members found their spouses or, at the very least, made long-lasting friendships. After all, few of our friends were not total strangers to us at one time. Either we were introduced or we stuck out our hand and introduced ourselves and a relationship began. What could be more natural than that? What's more, with an online service, if you do not wish to continue a conversation, you simply say so and it is over.

What books, source materials, prayers or practices would you recommend to people currently seeking the spouse whom God has prepared for them, and for people who are currently preparing for the sacrament of Matrimony?

For starters, I would recommend Covenanted Happiness by Msgr. Cormac Burke and Three to Get Married by Archbishop Fulton Sheen (both from Scepter Publishers). Also three Papal encyclicals: On Christian Marriage by Pope Pius XII, On Human Life by Pope Paul VI, and Familiaris Consortio by Pope John Paul II to get some of the Church's basic teaching. These books should be read by the single person interested in marriage and read jointly by engaged couples. There are many more but these are a good beginning. Another good practice would be to talk to clearly happy and generous married couples who can speak from experience about what it takes to have a unitive and procreative Catholic marriage.