Hi Mark,

Because the National Catholic Reporter is a Catholic newspaper, I am responding here as a Catholic, who (and I am grateful to God for this) was given a very strong foundation in the Catholic faith. Because of this strong foundation, when I sinned (and especially in my late teens in the area of chastity/impurity), my conscience let me know (I was very much aware) that I was sinning against God. It took some years (because of my embarrassment and shame for which I felt on my own - no one said anything to me to make me feel that way) before I went to Confession and confessed my sins of impurity. I cried in the Confessional for a long time. What I had forgotten to Confess at that time was the fact that I had received Jesus in the Holy Eucharist while not being in the state of grace. I did confess this later and am happy I did. 

I never said that the grace and strength that God gives to anyone who seeks Him with a humble and contrite heart when faced with suffering/difficult TBC