As a 22 year-old male, I can relate. I have never been in a romantic relationship nor had a female friend.
For the most part, I feel like I do a pretty good job of heeding the advice commonly given to people in my situation, especially the kind of advice given on places like Catholic Answers. “Just go to more [INSERT CATHOLIC EVENTS] and you’ll meet like-minded people.” From ages of 18-21, I did that. However, the past nine months have been different. I stopped going to Mass outside of the holy days of obligation. (I was only able to get away with this because my family is not made up of church-going Catholics.) The only Church activity I was involved in was a bible study group. Despite the beneficial spiritual growth I received during that little over three years of trying my best at piety, I still felt lonely which was difficult for me to admit. After all, we’re always told “you’re never alone when you’re with Christ” or “Christ’s love is all sufficient.” While that is no doubt true, I think that assumes “perfect” faith. For example, I
know that to be true but I don’t
feel it. At no point did I become an atheist or agnostic nor did I climb to my rooftop and curse God, just stopped regularly going to Mass. Truth be told I just didn’t feel like going out in public all that much and felt irritated in social situations, especially with
apparently happy couples.
Over the past year, I just delve deeper into the “healthy” worldly distractions and coping mechanisms I thought would ease the pain. Double majored in two quantitative disciplines, worked multiple jobs, dieted, exercised, lost
some weight, and tried my best to become more comfortable with the opposite sex. Recently, I started going to Mass and just plan to keep to myself for a while until I learn to cope with the bitterness. (A healthy, harmless bitterness I promise

.)
I don’t post a lot but the original post struck a chord with me. It gets posted a lot but I think it’s worth harping on the fact that simply being Catholic is enough to make someone, especially a younger person, feel isolated. You want someone who doesn’t drink, smoke, consume illegal substances, defend pornography like it was their mother’s honor, treat cohabitation like a fact of life, or abortion like a human right? Be prepared for the long haul. Every condition necessarily reduces the probability of that person existing.
Hang in there,
Gemma. You are not alone.