The Story of Ave Maria Town and Jackson Labs

When Catholics stand up for the fulness of the faith, we can accomplish amazing things. When those who profess to be faithful Catholics compromise with the prince of this world, they court disaster. The saga of Tom Monaghan's attempted union with eugenicist Jackson Labs and Ave Maria Town is a warning to those who love the Lord. You cannot serve God and Money. Ave Maria tried to serve two masters. Thank God a small vocal group stood up and said no. Randy Engel's series provides an important historical perspective and, for those considering relocation to Ave Maria Town, a warning.

Jackson Lab and Ave Maria - Part I

Jackson Lab and Ave Maria - Part II

Jackson Lab and Ave Maria - Part III

Randy Engel on Jackson Labs and Ave Maria Town

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Jackson Labs: Will They Cannibalize Babies at the Ave Maria Facility?

Can the National  Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) be trusted to vet Jackson Labs' complicity in human embryonic stem cell research? Apparently not. Ave Watch has an article documenting the extensive involvement of Jackson Labs in the immoral activity. And the CEO of the lab has said that they will not rule out doing it at the Florida facility. And yet NCBC gave Tom Monaghan the go ahead to make nice with the eugenicists.

Think of it. You buy a house in a "Catholic" town because you believe it will support Catholic doctrine, especially the right to life, and find yourself living alongside a scientist from Jackson Labs who is involved in the killing of our tiniest brothers and sisters. No one is talking about this at Ave Maria - not the faculty at the University or the students - except to justify Tom Monaghan selling the property to Jackson Labs so their Dr. Frankensteins can play God. There is definitely something rotten in the state of Florida and Ave Maria Town.

If Planned Parenthood proposed building an abortion mill in Ave Maria one would hope somebody would protest. Why is there nothing but silence over building a facility where tiny babies are likely to be cannibalized for their stem cells?

Ave Maria Town, Jackson Labs, and The Wanderer...Oh My!

Ever since I wrote the article about my concerns over The Wanderer, I have been eagerly reading my weekly paper to see if they will cover the scandal of Jackson Labs locating at Ave Maria Town. And it truly is a scandal to see this anti-life organization with deep roots in eugenics welcomed by Tom Monaghan and Ave Maria University. If you don't think that's what's happening you need to read about Jackson Labs and realize exactly how deeply disturbing Monaghan's complicity in providing the land to build their facility is. Monaghan claims absolution because the National Catholic Bioethics Center provided cover, but that organization is not without controversy.

Randy Engel has a two part article about this mess:

Part I - Eugenics Meets the Pizza King - Ave Maria in the Shadow of Auschwitz

Part II - Ave Maria, Jackson Laboratory and Mass Eugenic Killing

And Randy is not the only one talking about the scandal. FUMARE has an article questioning it that links to a National Catholic Register article. The American Papist also addressed the issue in early June.

All of these sources are asking what is going on? And why? What happened to the idea of the city on a hill where Catholics could locate in confidence that their values would be supported. What will happen to the integrity of the town when one of the biggest employers for miles around is an anti-life organization whose entire history is steeped in the culture of death? It looks like a prescription for the perfect storm of disunity. Culture of life move over and make room for the culture of death. It reminds me of the years when St. James Catholic Church in Falls Church, VA peacefully coexisted with the abortion mill next door. All they did was build a higher fence and sing a little louder and harrass pro-lifers who stood on their property to counsel women and offer alternatives. The devil loves that kind of setup!

One voice has been surprisingly silent while the confrontation over Ave Maria welcoming Jackson Labs builds -- and it's a voice that calls itself "Witness for the Truth." That, of course, is The Wanderer. I've been watching for six weeks to see if an article or a column would mention this abomination. There hasn't been a single solitary word about the Ave Maria scandal, only a puff piece by Jeffrey Tucker (two months old) praising a conference on sacred music held at Ave Maria. Is the fix in?

A newspaper can tell you just as much by what it doesn't print as what it does. The pro-life movement has known that for years and the tea party movement discovered it more recently. The mainstream media ignores those who don't represent their liberal mindset.

So does The Wanderer's silence on the buddy-buddy relationship between Ave Maria and Jackson labs reflect a new mindset where Ave Maria and Tom Monaghan are above criticism? I fear the next thing in The Wanderer's pages will be a full-page ad promoting the university. Or perhaps I and other subscribers will get slick packages from Ave Marie touting their orthodoxy.

Until Jackson Labs is run out of Ave Maria Town on the proverbial rail, no orthodox Catholic can believe that Tom Monaghan cares more about the faith than about money. He has given a lot of it away to good causes and that's great. But a drop of poison can ruin a gallon of water. Jackson Labs will poison Ave Maria Town beyond recovery. Why aren't the "witnesses for the truth" at The Wanderer shouting that from the housetops?

Read more:

Jackson Labs Outlines Vision for Collier County Project

Business Plan Released

Latest Update on JAX-Florida

Clueless or Culpable? Ave Maria Steps in it Again!

Ave Maria Town seems to be a magnet for controversy. The latest bit of scandal is the cozy relationship between Jackson Labs and Tom Monaghan. Jackson Labs has a long history in the eugenics business and internationally is promoting embryonic stem cell research. And yet, they are being welcomed with open arms by the president of Ave Maria University, Nicholas Healy, and Tom Monaghan.

Here's what researcher, Randy Engel, reports about the relationship:

Barron Collier Companies of Southwest Florida in partnership with the Domino pizza magnate and Catholic philanthropist, Thomas S. Monahan (sic), is the creator of Ave Maria Town, home of Ave Maria University. The new Institute will be situated off Oil Well Road about three miles from the Ave Maria campus on the southwestern edge of property originally controlled by Ave Maria Development.

Last year, Blake Gable, Ave Maria Town project manager and President of Barron Collier’s Real Estate Division approached Monahan to discern if his firm’s business partner had any objection to the Jackson Labs project, and if not, would he (Monahan), be willing to sell his interest in the land to Barron Collier thereby making the project independent of Ave Maria Development joint interests.

Concern about the morality of having a large genetic research facility so close to Ave Maria University and Town, Monahan is reported to have sought advice from the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) in Philadelphia, which ultimately advised him that they could see no moral impediment to the land transaction.

Engel goes on to describe the questionable postions of the NCBC on issues like abortion and brain death. She also provides a history of the Lab which is up to its neck in abortion/contraceptive/eugenic research. In the 1960s partnering with Johns Hopkins, the lab helped to develop amniocentesis for the search and destroy mission which has decimated Downs Syndrome children.

Here's how Engel sums up her Catholic case against Jackson Labs:

A Summary of the Catholic Case Against Jackson Labs

Ok. Let’s tally up the arguments against the donation of land to Jackson Labs by Barron Colliers Companies, partners with Thomas Monahan.

Clearly, Jackson Labs officials have deliberately withheld information from the general public and from Ave Maria leaders including Tom Monahan (sic), regarding the role of its founder/Director, C.C. Little, in the early eugenic, birth control, sterilization, racial, and euthanasia movements of the first half of the 20th century. Each of these movements was vigorously opposed by the Catholic Church.

Jackson Labs is a major promoter of eugenics and eugenic abortion.

Jackson Labs promotes and engages in human embryonic stem cell experimentation as well as contraceptive research in violation of the Natural Law and Church Law.

These objections alone should be enough to convince Barron Colliers Companies to scrap the project. If not, then Monahan (sic) along with pro-life state legislators, right-to-life leaders and residents in Florida, especially the students of Ave Maria University and resident of Ave Maria town, should force the issue.

In 1912, Father Thomas J. Gerrard speaking for the Catholic Social Guild, dubbed radical eugenics doctrines as “a complete return to the life of the beast. …Man is not an animal by nature; the table not a feeding trough, and the home not a biological experimental station,” Gerrard said, an obvious slap at the Cold Springs Harbor Experimental Station for the Study of Evolution where C.C. Little was later employed.

Ave Maria Town and Ave Marie University do not need a little Auschwitz in their backyard. (For the complete article, go here.... )

If Ave Maria allows the transfer of land for this evil organization, it is one more example of their trading Catholic values for money. After all, the lab offers potential employment for residents of Ave Maria town. But what kind of employment? If they do this thing, they will be directly implicated in cooperation with one of the most evil movements on the earth. Do your homework, Tom. I'm sure Randy would be happy to speak with you and President Healy.