Yes.... as a science major in my undergrad studies(and in my doctoral studies) I really struggled with this. I did a lot of study on it, focusing my reading largely in the young earth creationism camp. I'll probably never be convinced of anything older than, say, 12,000 to 15,000 yrs, but it is much less of a concern for me lately.... it's just that you really have to stretch the scriptures to match the 'findings' of the secular scientists.
I know how research can go if you have preconceived ideas. I was a Howard Hughes Medical Institue Fellow and did my own molecular biology research and I've seen studies tweaked this way and that to yield any number of supports for preconceived ideas. Being from the 'sola scriptura' camp, I take the scripture as authority..... and it seems that if the Lord were communicating the details of the creation with the old testament saints in the manner that he did, he intended the readers to understand that they were normal days and not millenia or even more.... it just smells too much like compromise in the face of a growing contingent of secular science.
I'm not saying that I subscribe to those views, I just threw them out as possibilities. As far as I know the Church has never accepted Darwinism, it just doesn't see anything prior to the Creation of Man as essential to Salvation. You might want to see if you can find a strong Catholic theologian with a science background, they are out there but depending on where you live they may be tough to find.