Talked to my girlfriend about the tm “normal catholic boy” meme and she made an eye-opening point:
A lot of Catholic guys and girls both think about being called to marriage but not about being called to marry a specific person. This has several effects:

1. It makes guys look for “good wife material” not a compatible life partner. This comes off as weird to girls.

2. A lot of pressure is out on guys to be “intentional” about dating, so as not to come off as taking advantage of women, but by trying to appear intentional, guys scare girls off by talking about marriage and children on the first and second date.

Also, when marriage is treated as a general vocation like priesthood is, a lot of “normal” Catholic guys will try seminary and if that doesn’t work out, then marriage.
This means, that most “normal” Catholic guys looking to date will be at least 2-3 years behind in...

...their career, emotional, psychological, and interpersonal development. These guys aren’t weird. They’ve just been stuck in a bubble for 2-3 years. That doesn’t take into account the fact that guys who leave seminary often have trauma from their experience.

Note, that those years guys are in seminary are prime dating years. So, when guys leaving seminary are finally ready to date, they’re often naive and inexperienced, and the girls who’ve been waiting around for them have baggage from their waiting or dating “not normal” guys.

Moral of the story:
Catholic guys,
you’re not “weird,” despite the meme. The Catholic vocations factory just doesn’t work. Just aim for friendship with girls your age. Don’t think of marriage as a “goal” to accomplish.

And Catholic girls, if you’re not finding any “normal” men by your standards, and would like to, either wait 2-3 years for the guys to catch up, or consider dating older or less developed in their career, or expand your definition of “normal.”

Soapbox over, tagging to encourage discussion of the above thread:
@B03THIUS @CatholicAmanda @Goodtweet_man @caroline_nannis @KeytarCatholic @BasedBee @maryrezacfarrow @crousselle @johnamonaco @PetriOP @KellyAKramer12 @fightforchurch @Idz_do_Tomasza

Other moral of the story:
I found a smart and pretty Catholic girl who can explain stuff well. But you can’t have her because she’s all mine.