PRESS RELEASE — Aug 22 — Wellington Archbishop John Dew has just endorsed and blessed the New Zealand-based CatholicMatchmaker.co.nz website. The blessing of the site, which is launching September 29th, is a step forward for the Catholic Church in recognizing that Catholics need more avenues to meet other Catholics.
The full article was originally published at Open Press, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Smart idea, get the church to recommend/bless your Christian dating site. What do you think Sam (ChristianCafe.com)?
Interesting. One wonders what impact that will have on a NZ-focussed site. And, what good is an endorsement for a site which hasn’t even launched? Good luck with their Sept 27, 2007 launch date. I don’t know of any s/w product which has ever launched on time:)
You said, “Smart idea, get the church to recommend/bless your Christian dating site.” Who is our overseeing church?
Our market is 95% conservative Protestant (mostly in the US), scattered into umpteen denominations, most “non-denominational”, which, by definition, isn’t a denomination, at all.
So, there is no one religious organization like there is with Catholics (assuming ordinary Catholics care).
Of course, we would love to be endorsed by recognised leaders, such as James Dobson. Without him, it is doubtful eHarmony would ever have made it…
There are other Christian leaders out there, of course, but some are controversial. Having those endorse us could be a double-edged sword. You’d get lots of traffic from their followers, but could lose from others turned off by them.
Interesting. One wonders what impact that will have on a NZ-focussed site. And, what good is an endorsement for a site which hasn’t even launched? Good luck with their Sept 27, 2007 launch date. I don’t know of any s/w product which has ever launched on time:)
You said, “Smart idea, get the church to recommend/bless your Christian dating site.” Who is our overseeing church?
Our market is 95% conservative Protestant (mostly in the US), scattered into umpteen denominations, most “non-denominational”, which, by definition, isn’t a denomination, at all.
So, there is no one religious organization like there is with Catholics (assuming ordinary Catholics care).
Of course, we would love to be endorsed by recognised leaders, such as James Dobson. Without him, it is doubtful eHarmony would ever have made it…
There are other Christian leaders out there, of course, but some are controversial. Having those endorse us could be a double-edged sword. You’d get lots of traffic from their followers, but could lose from others turned off by them.
Thanks for your comment.
We were very blessed to get the endorsement of our Archbishop John Dew.
I think it does mean quite a lot to the normal every day Catholics and to the credibility of our website, that we are operating under proper authority.
We certainly will submit to that authority as well, and Archbishop John Dew has given us a Chaplain for partnership and oversight, and to keep communication lines open to him as well.
I assure you we will launch on time, September 29th, which is St Raphael’s Feast day, the patron saint of singles and happy meetings.
The prelaunch period is upon us now, where all members who join, may enjoy ALL the services on the site for FREE, until launch day.
After launch, and to continue their membership, they will have to pay a monthly subscription to the site.
In Him
Clare Omvig
Founder
Catholic Matchmaker New Zealand
Thanks for your comment.
We were very blessed to get the endorsement of our Archbishop John Dew.
I think it does mean quite a lot to the normal every day Catholics and to the credibility of our website, that we are operating under proper authority.
We certainly will submit to that authority as well, and Archbishop John Dew has given us a Chaplain for partnership and oversight, and to keep communication lines open to him as well.
I assure you we will launch on time, September 29th, which is St Raphael’s Feast day, the patron saint of singles and happy meetings.
The prelaunch period is upon us now, where all members who join, may enjoy ALL the services on the site for FREE, until launch day.
After launch, and to continue their membership, they will have to pay a monthly subscription to the site.
In Him
Clare Omvig
Founder
Catholic Matchmaker New Zealand
Clare, thanks for your comment. Our market is actually 90% protestant, with around 10% Catholic (my mistake).
How big is the market for a NZ-focussed site for Catholics? Here in Canada, with a population of around 7x that of NZ, I doubt one would work. It would be hard enough having a Canada-general site.
Or, is your plan to attract, say, Aussie Catholics, as well?
I think the issue with all 3 countries (plus the UK) is that they are quite secular. Only in the US do you find significant numbers of *serious* Christians (Catholic and Protestant), with the majority of them being conservative Protestant (“born-again”, “fundamentalist”, etc.).
Clare, thanks for your comment. Our market is actually 90% protestant, with around 10% Catholic (my mistake).
How big is the market for a NZ-focussed site for Catholics? Here in Canada, with a population of around 7x that of NZ, I doubt one would work. It would be hard enough having a Canada-general site.
Or, is your plan to attract, say, Aussie Catholics, as well?
I think the issue with all 3 countries (plus the UK) is that they are quite secular. Only in the US do you find significant numbers of *serious* Christians (Catholic and Protestant), with the majority of them being conservative Protestant (“born-again”, “fundamentalist”, etc.).
Well, In New Zealand over half the population consider themselves Christian, and then around 450,000 consider themselves Catholic.
One thing I am constantly hearing from Single Catholics in New Zealand is that it is very hard to find another Catholic.
People are limited by the parish they attend, their locality (eg farming and remote areas), the mass they attend (be it weekday or Sunday).
Cathoic Matchmaker New Zealand opens up New Zealand Nationally for people to have a wider choice of those who are available for marriage.
We do plan to open in Australia in the future, but our Launch is primarily focussed on New Zealand (as that is where we have our blessing, and authority to run).
When we have made links with Australian authority, we will approach Australia to join our site, and promote it in their parishes too.
There are many ex-pats in the UK and USA too, so first the Pacific, and then branching out as we get bigger and bigger.
It is out of our hands now, as far as the site and growth is concerned. We will leave that, and how people receive it to the Lord.
Glen and I will be on TV One News here in New Zealand tonight – they will be filming us soon…and so I pray that this publicity will bring people out to join, and give them the courage to know they are not the only ones!
It is taking that first step – being moving so that God can steer us – that can make the difference of a lifetime and generations to come!
Thanks for your comments and discussion.
Blessings
Clare Omvig
http://www.catholicmatchmaker.co.nz
Well, In New Zealand over half the population consider themselves Christian, and then around 450,000 consider themselves Catholic.
One thing I am constantly hearing from Single Catholics in New Zealand is that it is very hard to find another Catholic.
People are limited by the parish they attend, their locality (eg farming and remote areas), the mass they attend (be it weekday or Sunday).
Cathoic Matchmaker New Zealand opens up New Zealand Nationally for people to have a wider choice of those who are available for marriage.
We do plan to open in Australia in the future, but our Launch is primarily focussed on New Zealand (as that is where we have our blessing, and authority to run).
When we have made links with Australian authority, we will approach Australia to join our site, and promote it in their parishes too.
There are many ex-pats in the UK and USA too, so first the Pacific, and then branching out as we get bigger and bigger.
It is out of our hands now, as far as the site and growth is concerned. We will leave that, and how people receive it to the Lord.
Glen and I will be on TV One News here in New Zealand tonight – they will be filming us soon…and so I pray that this publicity will bring people out to join, and give them the courage to know they are not the only ones!
It is taking that first step – being moving so that God can steer us – that can make the difference of a lifetime and generations to come!
Thanks for your comments and discussion.
Blessings
Clare Omvig
http://www.catholicmatchmaker.co.nz
Hi Sam…I just thought I would let you know that we have now obtained permission to start promoting in Townsville and Ballarat Australia…so we continue to grow – anyone is welcome, but now in those areas we can promote at the parish level. Just responding to the last post you made about spreading to Australia.
God bless
Clare Omvig
Hi Sam…I just thought I would let you know that we have now obtained permission to start promoting in Townsville and Ballarat Australia…so we continue to grow – anyone is welcome, but now in those areas we can promote at the parish level. Just responding to the last post you made about spreading to Australia.
God bless
Clare Omvig