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Bill Berkowitz
July 6, 2005

Tom Monaghan's Big Box Church

Pizza magnate is building homes in a Florida sanctuary for orthodox Catholics called Ave Maria, where there won't be any porn, condoms, or television smut

In late March, at the first annual Boston Catholic Men's Conference held at Boston College High School, Tom Monaghan, the founder of Domino's Pizza who has become a major league conservative philanthropist, was feeling the spirit. He triumphantly told the enthusiastic crowd of more than 2,000 men (including over 80 priests) in attendance that construction of Ave Maria University -- the first Catholic university built in 40 years -- was moving forward. According to published reports, "the $240 million first phase of the campus plans to be centered around the 'Oratory of Ave Maria,' a 60,000 square-foot church with aluminum and glass arches, and will include the nation's largest crucifix in stained glass with a 60 foot high bleeding Jesus. Officials say the church would be the largest fixed-seating Catholic church in the nation, with room for 3,333 to 3,500 worshipers "

Monaghan boasted that students enrolled at his new university located in southwest Florida would be high quality students with higher median SAT scores than those attending other Catholic institutions. He pledged that dormitories would be single-sex, that at least one quarter of the classes would be taught by "wholly orthodox" priests, and that students will be urged to become priests and nuns. (The university's predecessor, the Ypsilanti, Michigan-based Ave Maria College that was founded by Monaghan in 1998, is slated to close down. For a report from Cruxnews.com on this, see "Is Tom Monaghan dismantling another Catholic College?".

Bigger news, however, awaited the crowd: Monaghan fervently launched into a description of a new Catholic-centered town that he is constructing alongside his university in Florida. While there no plans to name the town Monaghanville, or MonaghanWorld, it is clear that Monaghan's vision is writ large over the new town, which is to be called Ave Maria.

According to the Boston Phoenix's Adam Reilly (story), Monaghan regaled the crowd with his description of the town:

"'We've already had about 3500 people inquire on our Web site about buying a home there -- you know, they're all Catholic,' Monaghan says excitedly. 'We're going to control all the commercial real estate, so there's not going to be any pornography sold in this town. We're controlling the cable system. The pharmacies are not going to be able to sell condoms or dispense contraceptives.' A private chapel will be located within walking distance of each home. At the stunning church in the center of town, Mass will be said hourly, seven days a week, from 6 a.m. on. 'So,' Monaghan concludes, with just a hint of understatement, 'it'll be a unique town.'"

The Ave Maria web site describes the university and town as "a new community of uncompromising quality and boundless opportunity," but makes no overt reference to the town's religious mission. The project grew from plans Monaghan began developing in 2002, and his Ave Maria Foundation hired the Naples, Florida-based land developer, Barron Collier Companies -- which donated the land for the project -- to carry out the construction.

"What we are creating here is truly a unique approach to educational and land planning," said Barron Collier Companies President Paul Marinelli:

"Developing both academic and community features at the same time allows us to create an environment where living and learning form an integrated whole. The campus will be an intrinsic part of the town, and participating in town life will be an enriching aspect of the university experience. Town residents will also benefit from the cultural and academic resources provided by the university."

According to its website, construction of the infrastructure of the university/town is underway. Located "less than 30 miles from Naples and the beaches of Collier County," it "is a visionary community with a strong commitment to preserving the area's significant environmental resources as well as its rural and agricultural heritage," the website maintains.

The website notes that "vertical construction" will begin in the fall of 2005, and the first phase of the project will be "open" in spring, 2007. By 2016, the town and the university are expected to have about 30,000 residents.

And after questioning from some Collier County Commissioners about affordable housing, Ave Maria's developers said that "the town will have 1,000 moderate-income, owner-occupied housing units; 700 low-income housing units, of which half will be owner occupied; and 200 very low-income housing units," Florida's Naples Daily News reported in late June.

The paper reported the company's plan is to "...provide more affordable housing in the town of Immokalee, a population of 25,000 and home to many Haitian and Hispanic migrant farmworkers," which is located "about 10 miles north of the Ave Maria project."

If Monaghan's enterprise is successful, it will in part be due to friends in high places. Hooking up with Father Joseph Fessio appears to provide Monaghan with a direct connection to the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI. According to the Boston Phoenix, Father Fessio, SJ, who is Ave Maria's provost and top-ranking priest, has "in the last 15 years ... enjoyed a reversal of fortune so dramatic it almost seems providential. After two clashes with his Jesuit superiors, Fessio had been virtually exiled to a hospital chaplaincy in Southern California.... [which] left him free to take the Ave Maria job -- a fortuitous development for Monaghan, since Fessio wrote his dissertation under the guidance of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now known as Pope Benedict XVI."

Fessio enjoys a close relationship with the new Pope: "San Francisco-based Ignatius Press, which Fessio founded and still runs, is the primary English-language publisher of Ratzinger's works. When Ratzinger became pope, Time magazine listed Fessio among the new pontiff's innermost circle." Fessio told the Boston Phoenix that he publishes [Ratzinger's] books and that he "was his student."

"But as far as real influence," Fessio added, "there's probably hundreds of people who have more." Since Ratzinger became Pope Benedict, Reilly reported that "Fessio has become one of the primary interpreters of his nascent papacy, appearing on NBC's Meet the Press, MSNBC's Scarborough Country, and PBS's NewsHour to discuss the new pope and surfacing as a source in countless newspaper stories."

"This" Reilly wrote, "puts Fessio in a remarkably prominent position in American Catholicism, and will surely help Monaghan as he markets Ave Maria in the coming years." During his conversation with the Boston Phoenix, Fessio weighed in on the question of politicians who support abortion:

"This is a very simple question, a question of integrity and consistency and identity. Look -- if you are sincerely convinced, that's fine. I won't vote for you. But please don't call yourself a Catholic in good standing. And don't behave in such a way that would give the impression that you are."

However, Reilly wrote, "When talk turned to the town of Ave Maria, Fessio was more diplomatic...promis[ing] that the Barron Collier Companies will have ultimate authority over the town's character. 'No matter what Tom's personal desires might be, or anybody else's, this town is going to be open to everybody,' Fessio said." When asked "what Ave Maria's legacy might be a century from now...[Fessio] was slightly less guarded," Reilly reported.

"'My ideal would be for the entire human race to be fully and completely Catholic, and to serve God that way,'" Fessio answered. 'But that's not going to happen. What do I want for the town? I'd hope the town would be like I'd like the whole planet to be -- fully conformed to the truth. But that's not going to happen either. So I don't know. I'll accept whatever happens.'"

An Inspiring Story

An orthodox Catholic, Tom Monaghan has been supporting conservative Catholic enterprises for quite some time. Over the years, he has funded numerous anti-abortion organizations and backed legislation banning all abortions (see below). He has also supported the campaigns of ultra-conservative Republicans including Senators Sam Brownback, Tom Coburn, and Rick Santorum.

Ave Maria the city -- located in a county in Florida where George W. Bush won 65% of the vote -- is a potential sanctuary from all that he opposes, and a testing ground for all he supports.

Monaghan's personal story, however, is nothing less than inspiring. According to the Boston Phoenix's Adam Reilly, Monaghan's father died when he was four years old and he wound up "spend[ing] much of his childhood in foster homes and a Catholic orphanage. He entered the seminary in ninth grade -- moved, Monaghan says, by a desire to 'seek the salvation of souls' -- but was soon kicked out for unruly behavior. A few years later, he finished last in his high-school class, graduating only after he tearfully begged a teacher to intercede on his behalf."

He later dropped out of the University of Michigan and enlisted in the Armed Forces, "accidentally," Reilly reports, joining the Marines.

In 1960, along with his brother James, he bought Dominick's Pizza -- which later became Domino's Pizza when Tom became its sole owner -- for a pittance. Over the years, Domino's evolved into an international pizza delivery franchise and fast-food restaurant, which, according to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, "had 7,100 stores in 50 countries [and] it was the second-largest pizza chain in the United States when it went public in 2004." Its 2003 sales totaled over $4 billion. (In 1998, Monaghan sold his interests in Domino's to Bain Capital, Inc., for an estimated $ 1 billion.)

In 1983, during his pizza-selling days, Monaghan bought the franchise of Major League baseball's Detroit Tigers, which he later sold for a handsome profit in 1992 to Mike Ilitch of Little Caesar's Pizza.

The Ave Maria Foundation

By the end of 2004, Monaghan had given away $450 million of his $950 million fortune, Business Week reported.

In 1983, while still running Domino's, Monaghan founded the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Mater Christi Foundation, which soon became the Ave Maria Foundation. Over the past 20-plus years, Monaghan has supported anti-abortion groups, school choice initiatives and the Foundation has provided funding to a number of Catholic charities, especially those emphasizing Catholic education.

According to the Ave Maria website, Monaghan, as Chairman of the Foundation, established Ave Maria College in 1998 "to offer a rigorous program of post-secondary studies in the Catholic liberal arts tradition, to prepare students for leadership in academics and professional occupations, as well as to provide service to the greater community."

The Foundation has established an Ave Maria College branch campus in Nicaragua as well as several elementary schools, and provided the initial funding for the Ave Maria School of Law.

In October 1999, readers of The Daily Catholic selected Monaghan as number 38 in its list of "Top 100 Catholics of the Century."

The Ave Maria Foundation has also had a hand in supporting other Catholic-centered groups including: Legatus, a group of Lay Catholic business leaders whose mission is "To study, live and spread the Faith in our business, professional and personal lives"; Spiritus Sanctus Academies whose stated mission is "to create a unique, multi-age educational environment in which learning and practicing the truths of the Catholic Faith are central to the development of each child"; Ave Maria Radio, a "Catholic Radio Station for the Nation"; Ave Maria Singles, a dating service "dedicated to helping faithful, practicing Catholics find their future spouse and help them become a better follower of Christ"; and The Thomas More Law Center, which bills itself as an organization "defending the religious freedom of Christians."

While some of Monaghan-funded projects are involved in both shaping the political debate and pursuing political action (see the section on The Thomas More Law Center below), others appear to be walking a thin line between conservative organization and radical cult.

According to Don Browne, the publisher of the Sunday Morning News in LaBelle, Florida, Legatus "reportedly backs a cult called The Word of God," a group that critics claim is "an authoritarian cult maintaining absolute control of its followers."

Browne also reported that Monaghan "reportedly set up the Siena Group, made up from wealthy and influential Catholics from the multi-thousand member Legatus... [which] was reportedly instrumental in the formation of Human Life International." Browne went on to point out that "The Siena anti-abortion group was founded by Father Paul Marx who reportedly laid blame for 'the abortion holocaust' on the 'shoulders of the Jews.'"

The Thomas More Law Center

Shortly after the Supreme Court handed down its two decisions regarding the display of the Ten Commandments, Richard Thompson, Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, declared that the rulings -- one from a case in Kentucky and the other from Texas -- "will have the practical effect of discouraging some public entities from displaying religious symbols."

"Justice Scalia got it right," Thompson said of the two suits that the Thomas More Law Center participated in by filing friend of the court briefs in favor of the Ten Commandment displays in both McCreary County v. ACLU and Van Orden v. Perry.

In a story at its website headlined "Supreme Court Ratchets Up Hostility To Religion in Ten Commandments Cases; Political Solution Sought," Thompson claimed that the decisions didn't "rest on consistently applied principles of law. Thus," he added, "the Court announced no rule of law, which government entities can depend upon that will give them any reasonable certainty they are complying with the requirements of the Establishment Clause. Consequently, some local governments will decide not to take a chance and be forced to pay monstrous attorney fee awards to organizations like the ACLU if they lose. One political solution is to remove the statutory attorney fee awards to the prevailing party in these kinds of cases."

"However, I am certain of one thing," said Thompson, "this battle is far from over."

In the May 2004 issue of Z Magazine, Eleanor J. Bader, reported that HB 1191, a bill in the South Dakota legislature crafted by the Thomas More Law Center that challenged the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, surprisingly died without much fanfare in mid-March of that year.

Bader, the co-author of "Targets of Hatred: Anti-Abortion Terrorism," pointed out that HB 1191 was a very radical anti-abortion bill: "It declares that human life begins 'when the ovum is fertilized by male sperm.' It also determines that states have a 'compelling and paramount interest in the preservation and protection of all human life,' and guarantees due process of law to both 'born and unborn human beings.'" According to Bader, Thomas More Center lawyers called it "model legislation."

The More Center vowed that they would "reintroduce the bill and others like it into statehouses across the country." (For more on the battle in North Dakota, see "The Death of HB 1191").

Many of Monaghan's projects appear to be more than a little bit about Monaghan. They are a curious combination of a particular brand of unwavering orthodox Catholicism -- not only is he against abortion, but he supports banning all abortion under any circumstances; hubris -- he not only intends to plant a cross, but it will be the "nation's largest crucifix in stained glass with a 60 foot high bleeding Jesus"; whimsy -- he felt that spending $3 million dollars to rebuild a church in Managua after the earthquake was more important than aiding the hungry and poverty stricken victims of the quake; and controversy -- the dismantling of Ave Maria College will unquestionably adversely effect the students, faculty and the entire Ypsilanti community.

Ave Maria the town may be Monaghan's maximum opus.