Keeping the Faith in Stratton
AUTHOR’S PREFACE
Keeping the Faith in Stratton is a personal account of
the problems in the Catholic Church and how we traditionalists (those of us
Catholics who have tried to hold to the faith of our forefathers by following
the traditional teachings of the Church) continued to practice our faith in
spite of the revolutionary changes brought about by the modernists (those who
believe the Church should modernize its teachings) after taking control of the
Second Vatican Council. These modernizing changes, on one hand, and the keeping
with tradition, on the other hand, brought about many conflicts of which we had
no previous experience. As “the shepherds had been struck” (the bishops had
taken a new faith) the flock was tossed to the wolves.
Keeping the Faith in Stratton is somewhat more
personal than one might expect, in that the personal life of the author is
discussed to some extent but is not nearly as personal as one might think in
regard to a spiritual life. This author isn’t as spiritual as what would be good
and will leave such an account to another author in his account of Keeping the
Faith in Wherever. The account is not at all simply about Stratton but is more
about the different traditionalist groups, so called, and how they affected the
Catholics of Stratton, Colorado.
Keeping the Faith in Stratton is being written thirty
to forty years after the first events took place. As a result, much “water has
gone under the bridge” and we find that there is much misunderstanding as to
what has happened and as to why we are doing what we are doing. This account is
being written for: 1) those who have been involved in the traditionalist
movement all along but who sometimes get overwhelmed by the day to day living of
the Faith and as a result the basic issues become lost or confused, so they can
better re-evaluate their Faith; 2) those on the outside of the traditionalist
movement and who are familiar with the struggle but don’t understand the issues
and as a result are, for the most part, scandalized by what they see, so they
can better understand and not be scandalized but inspired; 3) those who have
never been exposed to the fact that there is a traditional movement to keep and
restore the Faith and so continue down the bleak road of a dying world, so they
can rediscover the Faith; 4) those who have lost the Faith because the new faith
which was to take its place wasn’t worth the trouble and definitely wasn’t what
they had before, so they can come back to the Faith; 5) those who have taken up
a new faith because they believed it was their duty to give up their “diamond
(their precious faith) to have it recut,” so they can “recut” their faith to the
Faith of all times; 6) those young traditionalists who were brought up as
traditionalists but don’t really understand why they are traditionalists, so
they can better practice their faith and remain strong in it; 7) those who are
of the hierarchy of the Church and whose duty it is to safeguard the Faith and
to teach the Faith, in order that they may be ashamed of their failure and
return to their duties; 8) those who have always been outside the Church, so
they can better understand what the Catholic Church is and come to love it.
Hopefully this work can bring about a better understanding of what is going on
with the Catholic Church and will strengthen the faith of all those who read it.
Our Lord said He would always be with His Church. Even though things look very
bleak, it is often important to go through very hard times so as to be ready for
the future.
