I hear you, and I agree with you. I am using “date” here in the sense of courtship. If you read Steve Wood’s excellent book, “The ABCs of Choosing a Good Husband,” you’ll understand where I’m coming from.
“Date” is the colloquial term most people use, but “courtship” is what my wife and I allow for our children. Now, with our three oldest all happily married with children of their own, and two more children who appear to be likely to marry soon (to solidly, practicing Catholics), I can say with confidence that the time-honored Catholic policy of courtship (as opposed to what commonly is meant by “dating”) is wise and effective.
There are 68.1 million Catholics in the US, so you may want to increase your sample size a bit. Probably more than 3 would be good.