Deacon James H. Toner, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Leadership and Ethics at the U.S. Air War College, a former U.S. Army officer, and author of Morals Under the Gun and other books. He has also taught at Notre Dame, Norwich, Auburn, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and Holy Apostles College & Seminary. He serves in the Diocese of Charlotte. He has previously contributed to One Peter Five.
Author: Deacon James Toner
The Origin of Moral Calamity
Agere sequitur esse—What you do follows upon what you are. Let us resolve to be who we should be, know what we should know, and do what we should do, so that “Posterity may know we have not loosely …
Chicken Little Was Right: A Jeremiad
“If we deny Him, He will also deny us.” (2 Tm 2:12; cf. Jude 1:4) A number of commentators are telling us that it’s alarmist and unwarranted to suggest that the political sky has fallen. John Paul Jones-like, they assure …
Glorify God, Save Souls, Teach Truth
My pastor was trying to write a parish mission statement when, forsaking all modesty, I blurted out, “Father, you can write our mission statement in six words: Glorify God, Save Souls, Make Saints. He liked it and promptly had it …
The Death of the Lebanon Cedar
The prophet Ezekiel gives us the “allegory of the cedar,” which teaches us personal and political lessons. In that prophecy, Egypt is compared to a cedar tree grown tall and beautiful. As it grew, however, it became arrogant — “its …
Dynamic Ukelele: An Examination of ‘Living Tradition’
In a recent interview with America magazine, Archbishop Rino Fisichella praised the “dynamic nature” of sacred Tradition. Such Tradition, he maintained, is “first and foremost living.” We must not view Tradition as hidebound, the archbishop implied, because denying the “dynamic …
Comparing First Holy Communion at Two Parishes
Recently, my grandson Thomas received his first Holy Communion at a parish I have visited only a few times. My wife and I assist at Mass at a different parish, in part because it offers the traditional Latin Mass. The …
The Fraternal Fallacy
“He that walketh with the wise, shall be wise: a friend of fools shall become like to them” (Proverbs 13:20 DRB). There are, I know, exceptions to this “rule,” but let’s stipulate that men who enter the priesthood are good …
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