Alex science does explain some of the world very well, but a problem arises when people see how it explains some parts of reality and then think that it explains all of reality, and then the parts of reality it can’t explain just get ignored and explained away (one common method of this is called “evolutionary psychology” - it attempts to offer a “biological” explanation of humans in our moral, intellectual and social capabilities, but it has nothing to do with real science, and many actual biologists have pointed this out).
This way of thinking - that science explains all of reality - is just like saying that because a metal detector detects metal objects very well, the only thing that exists is what the metal detector can detect, and then you try to use metal detectors in cooking, gardening and painting instead of using a spatula, a shovel and a paintbrush. No, metal detectors are for detecting metal: science is for examining the physical world in a certain manner that allows certain facets of it to become more clear.
The Catholic faith loves scientific inquiry, and it has always been a patron of the sciences. The “father” of the big bang theory was a Catholic priest, Father Georges Lemaître, who was also a great physicist from Belgium. Perhaps you can ask your gf how to pronounce his name correctly (don’t say the ‘s’!).
There are countless examples like Geogres Lemaître.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:
159 Faith and science: "Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth."37 "Consequently, methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are."38
vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p1s1c3a1.htm
Faith and science do not contradict, they are friends. And really they are pretty much the same thing: just like in a biology class, students learn about the theory of evolution; or just like in a physics class, students learn about the theory of relativity; in a Catholic sunday school class, students learn about God. Usually most people believe what is being said on the authority of the teacher. But if a student is skeptical of evolution in a biology class, or is skeptical about relativity in a physics class, he or she could go to professors at colleges and ask questions about it that could be answered at a sufficient level, probably much better than what your high school biology or physics teacher will be able to say. And it’s the same with faith: if you are skeptical, that is what the great theologians, either at a Catholic university, or the hall of fame greats like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas among many others, are there for, to explain it better. The one sense in that it would be different is that there are “mysteries” of the Catholic faith that are too deep for our finite intellects to understand very well (The Trinity, for example), and so we have “faith” in them because they have been revealed by God, who does not deceive. But this isn’t a blind faith, it is totally rational, because it is claimed that we can know, through reason, that the truths that the Church teaches have been revealed by God. They are truth that are beyond what we can come to know about him through natural reason alone, which he revealed out of love for us. In fact, it would be irrational not to believe in them because they have been revealed by God.
With that in mind I would now ask you to read articles 27-38 in the Catechism, found here:
vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p1s1c1.htm
Now I believe you’re in high school (when I was in high school I was an atheist, but I converted to the Catholic Church in my college years), and I could recommend many books that explain what I’d like to type now but can’t really fit into a forum post, things that I as a book worm would have loved to have read. I would like to try to explain what goes behind what I linked from the Catechism. The Catechism was a book written by Catholic bishops and for Catholic bishops, and there are many terms in it (“faith”, “mysteries” and God being the “conserver of all things”) that make much more sense to a person who has studied a little philosophy as a Bishop has (and as I like to pretend that I have on the internet lol). I would have read this article as a high school student and thought these words were dumb and meaningless.
But what I’d like to recommend for you, given what you’ve said and how you’ve called yourself an agnostic, is to find a bible or a copy of the New Testament, and begin to read the New Testament and ask God if what you read in there about Jesus of Nazareth could really be true. Ask God if he is real, if he loves us and sent us his only son to show us the way back to him. Talk to God while reading the New Testament and when you go to mass or to a Church, pray to him.
Also, because lots of people seem to have such a poor understanding of Church history and they think it is an evil institution, I’d recommend watching this video series “Catholic Church: Builder of Civilization”
youtube.com/watch?v=m5siHd1P5zk&list=PL57857981F3CC5D78
The host also wrote a good book called “How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization” covering the same stuff. You probably won’t hear about all these facts in your high school history class!
