Hey everyone,

27 year-old guy here who has been a Christ follower for quite some time and also new to dating. So I met a girl from doing a play we were in together and during our time of getting to know each other better, we learned of each other's faiths. I'm a Christian and she's a Catholic. A couple weeks later, we find out that we both like each other but instead want to be friends first and see what happens. I had told my Dad about me and her since he's my best friend and deserves to know who I'm spending my time with. But when I told him that she was a Catholic, he didn't seem too thrilled about that and seemed like he didn't want me to get too invested in her because he stated how Catholicism has different biblical teachings and practices than Christianity. My Dad is a devout Christian who holds his faith very close to him by the way and he sometimes alludes to hoping that a find a nice Christian girl (one at our church to be exact).

Even though I still like this girl, I've been doing some online dating to open up my options and not feel like she could be "the one" (different story for a different dating community) and I've found myself matching with some great Christian girls and a few Catholic ones from time to time. Catholics fall under a different branch of Christianity just like how my church is Nondenominational, which is also seen as my denomination on Upward. I know I'm saying a whole lot in this post, but what I'm wondering is can a Christian and a Catholic be in a healthy relationship that honors God and follows in the footsteps Jesus? I know there are differences between the two like how a Christian would be declared righteous before God compared to a Catholic. Is it just a matter of communication and understanding between the two people? Or more? Would really like to hear someone else's input on this.