I should start the review by saying that I met my husband through the site which is why the rating is as high as it is. This was after using other sites such as Catholic Match and EHarmony without much success or positive experiences. As a "serious" practicing Catholic (I hate when people use that phrase but I'm not sure how else to describe it) I knew that I wanted the same in a spouse. I had been on other sites where there were a lot of Catholics in name only. That was not the case on here. In fact, some people seem to view themselves as more Catholic then the Pope... Anyway, The folks on the site forked over quite a bit of money compared to other dating sites. Although when I add up what I spent on match.com, catholic match etc over the years, it probably was more then I payed for this lifetime membership. The downside to this site is that there are not a lot of members. This is because the target demographic is somewhat small and because of the cost. For example, when I first searched profiles in the area I lived, there were about 6 matches and all were guys I already knew and wasn't a match with. I also believe the site lists total members instead of total active members. So technically my husband and I are still members even though we are married and our profiles not active. I would give the site 5 stars if they found a way to attract more quality members in order to increase people's chances of meeting their future spouse. read more

Imagine you are a Catholic single. Imagine you are having a hard time meeting people. Imagine a website that tries to take advantage of your insecurities and abuses the fact that you may be a little desperate. It lures you in with the promise of thousands of members and implies that they have a lot of active members. They had 6 active members. In all of Texas. I realized this within 5 minutes of signing up and immediately tried to delete my account and get the $79 refunded. Because it is a gimmick. It is false advertising. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY. Any other dating site will refund your money if you hate the site within 24 hours. Not Ave Maria. I signed up for Eharmony, realized it was much more expensive than I thought and they refunded me within 24 hours. They have good customer service, I would recommend them purely based on that experience. But Ave Maria was a terrible customer service experience. I have asked my credit card company to remove the charge based on their fraudulent, bad business practices. read more

I decided to give Ave another try after my first negative review. I started messaging a guy whose profile said he lives in California (one of the four options, as mentioned below) only to just now find out that he really lives in the United Arab Emirates. It is bad enough there are so few members on here without scammers being thrown into the equation. read more

How effective is Ave Maria Singles? I joined Ave Maria Singles in May, initially corresponded with my now husband in July, got engaged in October, and married in February of the next year. That's 7 months of courting while separated 6500 miles and 11 years of marriage so far. There was no video chat in the Internet in 2005 so we only had text and audio messaging. We were engaged 3 days after we met face-to-face. We were married 3 months after we talked to our parish priest and a week after we attended the last session of our marriage preparation course. We also got through immigration requirements to be with each other after our wedding. This is Divine providence! AMS is not a dating site. I joined AMS upon the advice of my retreat directress because I had a hard time looking for a spouse in people I meet everyday. I was not a girl next door who was looking for a man to call my own. I was looking for a spouse to live my vocation to marriage. For people who view marriage as a vocation and who are serious about living their vocation, nothing beats Ave Maria Singles as a place in the Internet to find your spouse. Financial wise, I believe I got a good deal. When I joined AMS, I was outside of North America so I got it at a discounted price. The membership is only one-time so I'm a member for life. If you think about it, you only need to meet "one" person who meets your requirements. In a world full of endless choices, you will be glad that AMS has already drastically trimmed down your choices to the ones that that are more suited to your requirements. What I like most about Ave Maria Singles is that the members are faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church especially on controversial topics such as pre-marital sex and co-habitation, contraception, homosexuality and transgenderism, and euthanasia. You don't have to second guess the other person's views on these while you go through the process of getting to know each other. "God will grant you the desires of your heart" read more

I will be upfront that I have been on and off this site for a long time. Of the men I have met, I don't think any of them are qualified to be married. Many have emotional or psychological issues. Some have outlandish expectations. A woman must be able to have x number of children, especially if the men are older, must have traveled, be this build, this hair color or only virgins but you have to except them for how they are. It's a nightmare. I was discussing it with another Catholic friend and she said it sounds like these guys are looking for a mix of the Virgin Mary and Barbie. I think she is right. There are very few members. Don't get wrong - I'm not bitter. But I am disappointed. read more

Had very high hopes when this website first came out some years ago however it was never user friendly and those who are active and serious are far and few between... and I live in the Chicago area! I recall a $ issue with them, oh yes, I was a lifetime paid member and there was some sort of sudden ultimatum... If you didn't use the site for 30 days, they cancelled your membership automatically which was not part of the agreement. Well I was a day late and 'too bad' for me. $$$ was the answer. So little activity if any and I took the loss and said 'farewell'! I had complained numerous times to the site owner about the site restrictions and lack of interactive mediums while using the site. After this one and Catholic Match, I am turned off to these sites however Catholic Match was far better. Either way, you get bum's, nut's, cheaters, cradle Catholics, sugar daddies and disappearing so called 'friends' who chat for days, months and then disappear. Crazy! Bottom line... people are not always what they seem on these sites and the expenses to be a part of them is a shame. Some would say, no price is too high for true love but the price is too high for a waste of my time. read more

It is a decent website, I dated a guy from there for over a year and even when we didn't end up marrying, I think he was decent. I met some other decent guys as well that were simply not my match, but they may be someone else's match! The amount of active members is small, but better quality than quantity. I'd give it five stars if it weren't for the fact that it is a bit pricey. read more

Well, I was very excited about this site at first. It is endorsed by some high-profile Catholics that I certainly trust. So, I forked out the dough to get a membership. Unfortunately, there are very few active users. I thought that maybe I needed to simply wait a bit, and the user base would grow. This has not been the case. Also, I have, on a few occasions written them emails over concerns or with questions, and they do not at all respond to any questions, concerns or inquiries. If you are looking for a good Catholic mate, I would venture elsewhere. This site is a rip off, and the customer service is non-existent. read more

I found my true love thanks to Ave Maria Singles. If you're a serious Catholic searching for your the one God has in store for you, there is no better site! I am grateful that someone had the insight to build this site! I'm praying for its continued success. read more

My husband and I met on Ave Maria. I am so thankful for the ministry of a dating site that really promotes serious courtship. I had been on a couple other dating sites and it became very clear people were looking for a fling and not a future spouse in the majority of cases. I knew, signing up, that I needed to be open to looking out of state because I knew a lot of people in my area and didn't find a match. It was time to expand my horizons. I found the site easy to use . I also have been on a retreat and a cruise. There was daily Mass, Confession and prayer with Fr. Thomas Morrow. The best part is the opportunity to mingle and step out of your comfort zone and work on the art of conversation. I also know the founders personally to be people of faith who truly want to help others meet their spouse. Thank you for providing a conduit by which I could import a husband from the other side of the country and with whom I have four beautiful children. He says I am also the best purchase he ever made via AMS membership! :) read more

If I could give Ave Maria Singles negative stars, I would. I was very hopeful when I signed up for this site and paid the money for my membership. My first impression after logging on was, is this even a real dating site? The format is so far from user friendly it is ridiculous. But I was willing to overlook it and performed my first search...my heart dropped. There were no results. I removed every filter, including age, and wound up with only a few men in my state all over 50 years old. I was 20 at the time so no thank you. I felt cheated because they pass themselves off as a legitimate dating site. I email customer service who actually got back to me fairly quickly with a lengthy response that, in short, said I might have to wait years to find the one I was meant to be with from this site. Not exactly something I wanted to hear. Then he said he performed a search for all of the US and found at least a dozen men 25 and under and they would certainly be willing to travel to meet me...1) how could he possibly know they are willing to move to a different state for me? 2) this isn't the Bachelorette! 12 men? In the entire US?? Anyways, I asked for my money back and they refused. Don't waste your time, money, or hope on this site. Also I got men in their 60s and 70s trying to contact me through here even though my age limit was set to a max of 25. That's just wrong. read more

My husband and I met through this site in 2007 and were married a little over a year later in 2008. We had both been members for three years at that point. As a true, practicing Catholic (meaning I try every day to follow all the Church teachings and take them very seriously), I had tried using other sites like CatholicMatch and been sorely disappointed. The men I met on CatholicMatch seemed to be Catholic in name only. Sure there were lots more of them to choose from on CatholicMatch, but so many did not share my views on the Church and Her teachings. For me, this was a huge problem. Unlike other Catholic dating sites, Ave's profile questions allow to get a deep look into the person and their belief system. It's easy to see what they believe about the Catholic Church. If you want someone super Catholic, that's pretty easy to figure out before you even message them for the first time. This type of profile made my life easier. When I joined Ave, I honestly expected to meet someone and get married right away. That's funny to think of now because God's timing is so much better than my own! I talked to a few nice guys, but eventually it would turn out that we didn't have much in common after all or just weren't hitting it off. It was frustrating at times, and I did have days in my three year membership when I felt hopeless and like I would never meet Mr. Right. But I kept praying and was patient. Eventually, my husband messaged me and we haven't been apart a day since. I will say that the number of members is smaller than other sites. But look at the Church in the world today. Unfortunately, the number of serious and devout Catholics is dwindling. This site appeals specifically to those who are serious about the faith and it's a sad world we live in, but there aren't that many serious, practicing Catholics left. If you aren't willing to look outside of your local area while using this site, then it's probably not the place for you. I found when using this site that I had to be really open about where my future husband might be from. I didn't want to move far from home, but I also knew God might have a different plan. If you aren't open to looking farther away, then you will probably be disappointed. This site is not a magical fix to being single. It doesn't magically lead to a lifelong happy marriage. But it is a tool that God can use if he so chooses to bring you and your future spouse together. At the end of the day, no matter where you meet your future spouse, God's plan and His timing will play the most important role. But using AveMaria and putting yourself ou there certainly gives Him a great opportunity to allow you to find a spouse who is just as serious about the faith as you are. My husband and I thank God for this site every single day. Almost 10 years together (9 of them married) and five babies later, we recognize every day that our life would not be what it is without the great blessing of AveMaria. I say take a chance and join. There's really nothing to lose except the opportunity to meet "the one." read more

AMS had got to be one of the worst dating sites out there. The problem is that the concept was very bad. The reality is that to keep a dating service afloat, you have to charge periodically... There simply aren't enough active users. When you extrapolate by area, oh my goodness, there is no one on that site (for people living in less populated areas, there will be no one in your area, mark my words)! When people realize there's no one on the site, they become inactive (and have lost their money), so there are even fewer active users. It's a vicious circle... The site members are extremely far right and there are NO ethnic minorities, to the point that site members will target minorities and any political differences whatever. Not having minorities is a big problem with potential dates, when you consider dating discrimination/preferences (minorities just won't have the same chances for dates/spouses as non-minorities). I was actually harassed by a male member on the forum for a period of months -- it started with politics, but then he would go into my profile and follow me around the site, even though I'd publicly state that I wanted him to leave me alone and I would not respond. What was done about the issue? NOTHING. Other forum members would join in, following me, contacting members who'd communicated me, and mentioning info from my profile; they would also openly post about how they were harassing me. I contacted AMS -- NOTHING was done. After I learned that people were trying to get a member to disclose info from my correspondence with him, I finally let them know that I'd had it, and that if the nuts on the site tried to release any identifying info about me I would take legal action against the site. Finally, there IDs were banned, but mine was as well... In terms of the kinds of people that are on the site, let's just say there's a reason they're single. Peoples' photos and profiles are just,well,odd (they're no one's dream date or ideal match). There were people in their 40s and 50s on the site who'd never had a serious relationship. A lot of people there use Catholicism and conservatism as a crutch for their alienation, when it's just that they're strange and damaged and cannot date. read more

It is an ok Catholic dating site with thorough questions for serious Catholics. They have singles retreats and weekends which are good activities. Something I disliked about the site were how some of the videos and blogs about dating and marriage had an attitude and idea that finding a spouse was easy for most people. In one video a priest was saying that some couples come to him lamenting about infertility, so he thought that everyone should try to find a spouse during college and get married immediately after college just so they can have a lot of babies. He then said that we shouldn't put off marriage for career and after "age 30" fertility decreases "drastically". The focus was not even marriage itself, just babies. First of all, who puts off children for career anymore, with so many daycares and nannies? This alone is out of touch and outdated. As far as finding someone willing to marry immediately after college, I don't see how likely that is. Even if someone wants to it may be hard to find a spouse that wants to. I can only speak for myself...At 20 I hoped to marry and have lots of babies; I couldn't care less about career. I had a serious relationship at this time but he had emotional issues and the relationship ended. Then after college graduation I found a new relationship but my parents did not approve and the stress ended the relationship. I am now in my mid 30s and never married or had children. I never chose this, it's just that this facet of life has been hard for me even though I did my best. The priest just didn't understand how hard it is for some people, and reminding me of the biological clock was like rubbing salt into a wound. I really think the videos should be from people who truly have experience and not just opinions, and see the big picture. Another opinion was that there was a link between contraception and gay marriage being legalized. They were both things that interfere with God's plan for life it said, so there must be a link. I personally don't think contraception led to gay marriage and I think if someone had a gay person in their family they may be offended by that. So I think some of the opinions in the videos and blogs were shortsighted. Others were good, however. read more

All I can say is Ave Maria Singles is your best option for meeting someone who is serious about their Catholic faith. And only paying once for lifetime membership shows you they understand it can take a while to find the right person, and not gouge you with renewal fees incessantly. And FYI, by the time you're on any other site for a few renewals (which you are, because guess what, it takes time to come across the right person), you have paid more than this site's one time fee. Yes, the membership is smaller than other sites. But that's just a reflection of the small pool of practicing Catholics that are out there. This site saves you from having to sift through endless lists of people who are Catholic in name only. It's well worth it in every way. read more

It feels rather strange to be writing a negative review of Ave Maria Singles, given that I met my wife through this online service ten years ago. However, my recent interaction with them has compelled me to warn other Catholics who are still single about the risks of buying a membership with them today. A couple of weeks ago, I logged into my Ave Maria Singles account for the first time in a long while. I noticed that their website had changed considerably, and I also noticed that all of the messages that were in my Inbox had disappeared. Given that those messages (three or four of them) were the first communication between me and my wife, I wanted to have access to those once again. Since membership in Ave Maria Singles is a lifetime deal, I figured that this would not be a problem. I contacted Ave Maria Singles through e-mail about this, and received a quick reply saying that their technical team would restore my messages promptly. So far, so good. However, later that day, I received a second message from them, saying that they would restore my messages AFTER I sent them information that they could share with others in the "Success Stories" section of their site, where couples who met through Ave Maria and got married post photos, engagement and marriage dates, sentimental quotes, and other information about themselves. Needless to say, I found this rather disturbing. Why should Ave Maria refuse to restore my messages - which came with a lifetime membership that I purchased - unless I first provide private info about myself and my wife for the sake of Ave Maria's advertising? I wrote them back, politely explained my concerns, and asked that my messages be restored without any such strings attached. I received no response to that message, nor to any of the several subsequent e-mails that I sent. To me, this sort of behavior on the part of Ave Maria Singles is petty, childish, and unprofessional. I have seen other reviews of Ave Maria Singles online that refer to similar experiences: dishonest and petty behavior on the part of Ave Maria, followed by zero response to e-mails. To me, this really calls into question their seriousness about promoting good, healthy, Catholic marriages. If this is how Ave Maria treats customers, how much do its operators really understand what needs to go into a successful marriage? I must add something else for those considering Ave Maria. Just out of curiosity, I did a search for women ages 34 to 41 in the same state where I did my searching ten years ago. This time, I came up with a grand total of eight hits. Eight is not a very large number at all for an entire state with a population of almost six million. What especially struck me, though, is that I recognized a couple of these people, for they came up in my searches ten years ago! Now, I am not judging any of them. Maybe they're still searching, or maybe they found spouses and forgot to deactivate their Ave Maria accounts. Regardless, it's not a good sign for people looking for spouses on Ave Maria. They advertise that they have had over two thousand marriages take place among members, but that is for all fifty states plus foreign countries, over a period of fifteen years. From that perspective, two thousand isn't that high a number (if all occurred in the U.S., that would be fewer than three per state per year). I have no experience with any other online Catholic singles sites and so I would not know what to recommend today as an alternative, but my guess is that Catholic singles today will have a better chance of success elsewhere, especially given the sort of pettiness that I have seen recently from this company. I would consider deleting this review if Ave Maria would simply do the honest, fair thing and make this situation right. To hold hostage messages sent between two members who later got married - just so that Ave Maria could get some more advertising power - isn't much of a reflection of Christian charity, and certainly doesn't represent what Catholics should be seeking and practicing in marriage. UPDATE: Yesterday, I sent a copy of this review to Ave Maria Singles so that they could have another chance to fix the situation before I posted this review. This time, I received a quick reply, and a brief exchange followed. Unfortunately, the messages that I received today did not include any acknowledgment of the fact that I had been required to submit a "Success Story" before having access to old messages (I was told that I "misinterpreted" their earlier message, despite the fact that their message was very clear and explicit) or of the fact that I had not received a response to anything over the following nine days. I was also told that my account would be suspended (apparently, I violated their policy by running the search that I mentioned above!), but that they could still obtain my old messages for me anyways if I would agree to pay an extra fee. Wow. read more

If you're looking for a catholic dating site that actually has catholics who strive to live their faith and are ready to make the commitment to marriage with the right person, then look no further than Ave Maria Singles. Wake up, people! Finding catholic singles like that in the kind of world we live in today is crazy difficult. This site is a God send. read more

I've been a member of AMS for a long time and found the quality of its members to be head and shoulders above the rest in terms of the kind of people they are as well as the love of their Catholic faith. I participated in their trips and retreats and had the opportunity to meet these people in person. While traffic in the site itself is lower than in other websites, it's definitely a matter of quality over quantity. read more

The site requires you to sign up to see what you are paying for. My first search yielded no results. I then removed all filters except for age (which was a large gap of 20-30 yrs), and there were only 4 results. Customer service was not helpful at all and accused me of not being serious in my search. Their email address is even kind of shady (they use gmail.com, instead of a professional email domain). read more

I have been a member of the site for several years. Via conversations with staff at the site, I learned the old website had to be replaced with a new one as old one was collapsing. The website now is being manned by very few people and the super inexpensive price charged to belong also means that the site people can't afford a lot that may be offered at other dating sites. The site is having growing pains. I have had difficulty with getting new pictures up for one, but the staff has been assisting me. This site does attract many excellent people as I've experienced in person and on line. I'd recommend reasonable patience for the staff to respond to any difficulties having. I am a fan of the site and what they are trying to do, and would recommend people give the site and staff a chance. read more

There were many things I liked about Ave Maria Singles versus other Catholic dating sites. I loved the fact that members must provide a detailed explanation regarding their spiritual beliefs and values. I desired to find a man who would one day be the spiritual head of the household. Because Ave Maria required that he make explicit exactly what he believes, I didn't have to waste time getting to know a man who was not 100% Catholic and loved the Lord above anything else. I also liked it that a membership fee was required. The fee showed that the men on the site were serious and committed to finding a Catholic woman with whom they would enter into the Sacrament of Marriage. The one-time fee was also appealing to me. A monthly fee would have made me feel as though I was on a time crunch to locate my future spouse. With a one-time fee, I was able to be patient as I waited upon the Lord to reveal him to me. I know that one downside to Ave Maria is that there aren't as many members as compared to other sites. I understand that this may reduce your chances of finding the one God has for you. However, God has ONE for you! This is where prayer comes in. If you are feeling the Lord lead you to join this site, this may very well be the place you find that one person! That was the case for me and my wonderful husband. As for the previous review addressing the deleted messages, I had a much different experience. I discovered back in October of 2013 that my messages had been deleted. I was really upset because I wanted to keep the ones between me and my husband. I did have to follow up a few times, and it probably took a little longer than it should have. However, in the end, all of the messages between me and my husband were sent to me as an email attachment. They never demanded that I first give them my story. They kindly asked me if I would. In my correspondence with the staff at Ave Maria Singles, I always found them to be very courteous and professional. Joining Ave Maria Singles was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life. It was there that I met my "St. Joseph." I would recommend this site to anyone who is serious about discerning the vocation of marriage. read more

Sorry to complain about your complainers but here goes. This site does not deal in numbers but in permanent, devoted, committed relationships. Most have been to the other sites that have huge memberships and to no avail. Ave Maria Singles is often the last stop for people who have been around the block with dating sites and have come to a very disappointed fork in the road. They come to AMS with an defeated attitude and then when everything doesn't work out in their anticipated timing they cry foul and go off mad and blaming AMS. Ave Maria Singles does everything to bring members together not only on the dating site but with several trips and retreats each year giving members opportunities to meet in person. I have not met a spouse but have had the great blessing of meeting exemplary single Catholic men and women. Stop complaining and start meeting, not only on the site but on the trips and retreats. There is a core group of AMS people who frequent the trips who are wonderfully devoted practicing catholics and once you get to know them you will know you have wonderful catholic friends for life. As far as AMS , you will never find a more encouraging and more supportive staff to help you on your journey of finding a catholic spouse. read more