The Price of Integrity at Ave Maria University? A Cool $4 Million!

You've probably heard the joke about the man who says to the beautiful woman, "Will you have sex for me for a million dollars?"

She bats her eyes and says, "Sure. Where and when?"

Then he says, "How about for ten dollars?"

Insulted, she responds furiously, "What do think I am?"

The man answers coolly, "We've already established that; we're just haggling over the price!"

Well, sad to say, Ave Maria University in Naples, FL has sold its Catholic soul to pro-abortion billionaire Tom Golisano who donated $4 million to build an athletic complex which will bear his name. That he's pro-abortion is easily established and Ave Maria officials were apparently aware of it. What's particularly galling is that, according to Golisano, Tom Monaghan agressively solicited the donation.

To those who think this is a tempest in a teapot rather than a serious scandal, consider how you would feel if Planned Parenthood donated $4 million for a science building named after Margaret Sanger or less notorious Dr. Alan Guttmacher. What if they built a TV studio and communications building donated by a billionaire neo-Nazi who wanted to name it for Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels?

One might be able to give Monaghan a pass if he approached Golisano saying, "Look, you're in serious trouble with the Lord because of your commitment to abortion. Why don't you at least invest some of your wealth in our university. We'll promise you nothing but prayers for your conversion. We won't have any kind of ceremony honoring you. We'll name the building after St. Paul because of all his statements about running the race, and we'll ask our students to pray for the anonymous donor."

I might be able to go along with that approach. It might even convert the guy. But to honor a pro-abortion rich man at a Catholic university, to offer him honor and respectibility, and even a standing ovation for his generosity...well, in my opinion, that makes it even harder for him to repent. How can the Lord condemn a man who gives $4 million to a Catholic school named after His mother? What a mockery!

I have eighteen grandchildren and the first two will be in high school next year. I hope they never consider going to a Catholic university with a building named after a public pro-abortion figure. I've spent my entire adult life fighting abortion and other culture of death initiatives. What Tom Monaghan and Ave Maria have done is a reprehensible public scandal that deserves condemnation from every serious Catholic.

If you have money to contribute to Catholic education, give it to a college that truly deserves the name, not one that will sell its integrity for 30 peices of silver.