Matchmakers for Dundalk couple include School Sister of Notre Dame

Kate and David Green met as middle-schoolers at Our Lady of Hope/St. Luke School in Dundalk, where they would say hello in the hallways and David was the student monitor during Kate’s lunch period. 

That was around 2006, when David was in the eighth grade and about to head off to Archbishop Curley High School. It wasn’t until 2012 that they really got to know each other, thanks to a Valentine’s Day Dance hosted by the Fathers Club and a nudge from a School Sister of Notre Dame.

Kate’s father, Roger Tennant, is the physical education teacher at Our Lady of Hope/St. Luke School. She was a senior at The Seton Keough High School when he asked her to check coats at the aforementioned dance. David, by then the school’s custodian, was on site to direct clean up.

“That’s when I noticed him,” Kate said, of an evening they spent visiting.

Later that spring, at the Dundalk school’s carnival, School Sister of Notre Dame Irene Pryle, principal of Our Lady Hope/St. Luke School, asked Kate to work the soda booth — a shift that happened to include David.

“We got to work together,” Kate said. “We always joke and say Sister put us to work together because she wanted to set us up.”

And what about Sister Irene’s collaborator?

“You’ll have to ask Kate’s dad and her,” David said. “He’s the one who asked me, ‘Hey, you want to work with me in the soda booth?’ Come to find out, he’s not even there. It’s Kate.”

After the second weekend of the carnival, they went for dinner at a Chili’s restaurant and continued the evening on the fishing pier beside David’s parents’ house.

They volunteered together, dated through their college years, which saw Kate graduate from UMBC and David the University of Baltimore. He proposed in 2017, and they were married  August 10, 2019, with the officiant being Deacon Herman Wilkins of Our Lady Perpetual Help in Edgewater, who had previously served at Our Lady of Hope. 

“We had a busy 2019,” David said, “and then COVID happened.”

“It was like this train was going and going and then fell off the rails when COVID happened,” Kate said. “But we did get lucky. We had our full wedding (and a honeymoon in Hawaii).”

Kate works for a local pharmaceutical manufacturer, as part of a COVID-19 vaccine team. David, now the facilities manager for Our Lady of Hope/St. Luke School, found himself with an empty school building. He took advantage of the situation to tackle some physical improvements.

Parishioners of Our Lady of Hope, Kate and David recently purchased his parents’ home in Dundalk. They are active volunteers in the faith community, helping with the annual carnival and parish dinners. Kate is a frequent visitor to the campus, stopping in to see her husband; her dad, Roger Tennant; and Sister Irene.

“Sister Irene is always the first one I say hello to,” Kate said.

Attending the same Catholic elementary school and being parishioners strengthens their common ground.

“Our faith has created a nice foundation for us to grow,” Kate said. “We’ve had a similar education, similar experiences. Having those experiences together has made it really easy for us to grow together. And having a really great community to support our dreams and aspirations … I think for anybody who can find someone in their same community, it really helps a lot.”

Any advice for similarly young couples?

“Make sure you have the same plan in life,” David emphasized.

“Ask your potential prospect what their dream and goal in life is,” Kate said. “I think a lot of people don’t align on those goals.”

Their next set of goals are familiar ones, to build their careers and a family.

“Other than that, we just want to build a healthy and happy home,” Kate said.

Know of a Catholic couple that could be featured in the “It’s About Love” series? Send details to mail@CatholicReview.org

Also see

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