For young single Catholics and other Christians, finding a partner from a dwindling parish pool can be difficult. But, as in so much today, technology is offering a solution via websites dedicated to matching up those looking for someone to share their faith as well as their life

As December disappears, overstuffed and out-sparkled, in strides January, promising diets, detoxes – and digital dating. It’s all big business these days, especially the dating. Globally, the online dating industry is worth £3.4 billion, with around 200 million people using digital dating services each month.
In the United States, more than a third of all marriages begin with an online match-up. According to Pew research, 59 per cent of adults in the United Kingdom think online dating is a great way to meet people. So it’s not surprising that signing up to a dating site – most of which come as a mobile phone app – is a popular new year’s resolution.

But is such a dating service appropriate for Christians? Jackie Elton believes it is. She founded Christian Connection as long ago as 2000, and says digital dating has become a vital way for Christians to meet each other outside of church. “The opportunities to just run into people and start dating after university recede quite quickly,” she says.