Age Difference in catholic dating

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Is it acceptable for a 17 year old dating a 21 year old? Acceptance is hard in humanity but only God is to accept all.
 
Is it acceptable for a 17 year old dating a 21 year old? Acceptance is hard in humanity but only God is to accept all.

I’m not sure this is a “religious” question at all. Is it acceptable for a 15 year old to date an 11 year old. Is it acceptable for a 17 year old to date a 13 year old. Is it acceptable for a 25 year old to date a 21 year old. It’s a progression of the maturity of the two people involved. 21/17, probably not; there is a wide disparity in experience and maturity here. In today’s culture it is probably much more problematic than it would have been in 1925. Times and cultures change.
 
As long as the 17 year-old’s parents are okay with it, and the relationship is chaste and God focused then it is perfectly natural and fine.

Now the 21 year-old might want to think about maturity levels and be careful not to jump into anything serious with an immature person, but that is true for all ages and all people.
 
I agree with Monk above. Generally speaking, though, it is a fairly big span maturity wise. I would keep it as a pure friendship without the relationship becoming anything more than that for a good 12 months or so. That is one of the best ways of discernment, it seems to me.
 
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At 17,the girl is a minor. I’d leave this decision to her parents.
I dated a 21-year-old when I was 18. It was no big deal considering both of our relative experiences in life. Neither of us had dated much and he didn’t have an ex-wife or a baby momma or any of that. I also had men of 26 and 30+ trying to date me around the same time; they were definitely too old and one had an ex-wife and another had a baby momma and a new fiancee.
 
Having been both 17 and 21, I can tell there is usually (not always) a big difference in maturity between the two ages. That is when you have to be careful. If the 17-year old is mature enough and the parents give consent, I don’t see anything wrong. It’s not biology, its maturity.
 
From the 21 year old’s perspective (because you’re a minor), how is there no thought about statutory r-a-p-e? Surprised any parent would be ambivalent to that.
 
It’d be a no-go for me. Wait until she’s 18, if anything. I think I’d have some leeway for a 17yo in college with a 21 year old also in college. I know my freshman class had students who were as young as just turned 17 the day befre to a 19yo who would be 20 next month and we were all just as stupid and nieve as one another despite the 3 year age difference. In America children as young as 4 and as old as 6 start kindergarten depending on your town/state which can lead to big age gaps when college rolls around…nevermind gap years.

However, for the most part, the Catholic church commands us to respect just civil law. At 17 this other person is still a minor. The answer is no. There is too much of a power imbalance even without sex involved.
 
Yeah. 4 years apart in a relationship is really nothing once people hit a certain age. 17-21 though? 17yr old me was light-years away in experience and maturity from 21yr old me. You are talking high school junior/senior to college senior about to enter the workforce. And as a guy, ignoring the minor status, I don’t know any 17yr old girls who are mature enough or have the life experiences to even interest me. They are high school girls, for goodness sake.

It always depends on maturity and some people are more mature than others. 17 though, I’d give the 17yr old some time to figure out who they are outside their parents and school…
 
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