Love at first sight: an experience often imagined but rarely expected. For Dave and Faustyna Fatula, however, this was reality.

I had the opportunity to interview Dave, the current director of Franciscan Events, about how he came to Franciscan University and his relationship with Faustyna. 

Dave Fatula came to play basketball at the College of Steubenville while he was teaching third grade. During that time playing basketball, Dave was asked to help with the summer conferences. He volunteered at his first conference in 1978 and has been working in conferences and events for 35 years now.

His wife Faustyna grew up as a local. She went to Catholic Central High School and graduated from the College of Steubenville in 1978. Her first job was working as the manager of the JC Williams Center. “At the same time she was working here,” says Fatula, “her boss was married to a lady I taught with at Saint Anthony’s. She grew up next to Faustyna, and they were best friends. They were scheming behind our backs to get us together.” He said that she saw him from a distance one day while he was playing basketball and “kinda took an interest in me.” 

They formally met during the first conference Fatula volunteered at when Faustyna hosted a picnic afterwards for all the volunteers. He said, “The lady I worked with introduced us, and I fell in love the minute I met her.” 

Fatula explains that although he had never dated anyone prior, he fell madly in love with Faustyna when he first met her. Dave and a friend were driving home after the picnic, and his friend asked Dave what was wrong. Dave responded, “I’m in love.”

“He knew me,” Dave continued, reminiscing, “[his friend] said, ‘you’ve never even had a date in your entire life and all of a sudden you’re in love?’ And I said, ‘I’m gonna marry that girl.’ And he said, ‘Take me home, I think I’m in the car with a madman.’”

Fatula said that a week after he called Faustyna and they started dating. “We used to run, and bike, and jog, for a lot of our dates, and swim. We were very active athletically because neither one of us had a lot of money.” He explainsthat a lot of what drew them to each other was that they came from the same background. “We’re both Catholics, we’re both flaming, praise the Lord, charismatic Catholics, and we both believed that when we married each other, we were marrying into a family, not just a person. That was important to both of us.” 

Fatula sharesthat on the day he proposed, he told Faustyna to get dressed up for a walk in the Union Cemetery, and that they would go out to dinner after. “I dressed up in a three-piece suit,” Fatula remarked, recalling that in response “She said ‘Oh, this is something fishy here.’”

Fatula was nervous when he proposed, but he knew that she was going to say yes, because they had talked about their future beforehand. He explains that he bribed her parents without them knowing by painting their house for free. “That cemented my relationship with her dad … a little bribe never hurt. Especially when you’re in love, you know, love knows no bounds.”

Although he was sure that she was the one, they got the final okay from his mom and her dad. “I have a real good relationship with my mom”, Fatula says, “we were at a wedding, and I said to her [Faustyna], ‘Hey sit with my mom, get to know her.’” After an hour, Fatula’s mother leaned over and told him that Faustyna “was the one.”  “[My mother] knew it because she knew who I was better than anybody in the world,” Fatula concluded.

“We got married in ‘81. Three children and 7 grandchildren later, couldn’t be happier.”

Fatulaexplains that his definition of love is based in Jesus Christ, and the Trinity. That at the heart of the purest love is a relationship with Jesus Christ. The love of God the Father helps to raise children, and the Holy Spirit helps “to inspire you to do what you have to do”. But ultimately, Jesus Christ is love. 

Fatula says, “I experience the love of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in a profound way. So it helped me to love. But the bottom line was that Faustyna was hot. And I fell in love with her because she was hot. And she’s still hot. Sounds crazy, but God blessed us because he loves us”. 

Fatula explains that God attracts us to other people so that we will go after them. “I really believe that God put it in our hearts, to say if you’re attracted to this girl, go after her. I mean, that’s what God the Father was saying to me.” “God doesn’t mind us being attracted to physical beauty,” as he made it that way so that we will find who we are meant to be with. But “in God’s eyes everybody is perfect and gorgeous. That’s one of the nice things about God, he loves everyone equally.”

Ultimately, Fatula’s most important values for a healthy relationship and advice are to be aggressive in your relationship with Jesus, getting the power of the whole Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to “go after that relationship” and to expect miracles, “believing that God loves us so much he will bless us with a miracle.” If you see someone who you think is out of your league, do not be afraid to take a chance, to take the step in faith. Instead say “Lord I’m going to ask this girl out, if it be in your will, just bless it.” “I believe on this campus, I wish guys would take more chances and ask more girls out. If it doesn’t work out, then you’re not worse off.”

Finally, the most important is do not stop following Christ, as “that is the key.” Go to confession and try again. It is “so healing, so beautiful, and so powerful.” “You’re gonna sin, everybody’s gonna sin. Just like me, I’m still a sinner. I’ll always be a sinner till the day I die.” But remember who you are, “we are so blessed and fortunate to be Catholics”. We have the love of Jesus Christ always. We must seek him, and follow him, before we can look for that in others.