DISCLAIMER
I'm going to take the next few posts and respond to a young friend who is struggling in his faith right now. Life, school, and trying to be faithful to the God who loves him is difficult. And the reason why I am responding to him on my blog is because, well, I'm an adult and he's a minor and VIRTUS says I cannot correspond with him without his parents' permission. But seeing as how I have no idea who his parents are, that cannot really happen. So I will anonymize his letter and try to give some helpful, honest answers.
And brother R, if you read this through, know that I've got a bunch of people praying for you, including myself. Hold on!
BEGINNING OF THE LETTER
This lent was terrible. I didn't give anything up. Because honestly I don't know of I belive anymore. All my life I had no friends. My parents are mean to me. And I go to a Catholic school, and most of the teens there are atheist, non practicing, or don't follow church teaching (example: an actively lesbian girl altar serves, a religion teacher says it's okay if gay marriage is legal, and at a retreat in the school they said that the Church is wrong about contraception, pre marital sex, and gays). I have many questions about the church and no one seems to be able to help answer them. My youth minister, priest, and religion teacher always tell me to pray about it. But I never feel anything. I feel so lonely. I feel like no one cares about me and everyone treats me like garbage. So maybe you can help me with my questions.