My take is that my version of the character had never been with a woman before

I can see that being a possibility, and I actually didn't infer that she'd necessarily had sex with a woman. More what I meant was that it seems clear to me that at some point in the past she did something which -- in her mind, at least -- crossed a line, and which probably had some sort of real-world consequences. But there are a thousand ways a person can get hurt (or even caught) without doing any actual fucking. And your Aloysius certainly seems to have subscribed to the notion of thoughtcrime (she knew there was no "only" in this world that could save them), so this may have been as simple a thing as a back massage or a nude swim.

Also, it's so cool that you know so much about how James feels about all this secular political stuff! I can't believe I've never thought about her reaction to JFK's assassination, for example.

Thanks again for the story! Yay, nuns. *goes off to reread it*