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

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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

What's Going on at The Wanderer?

I received my Wanderer in the mail yesterday, as always a week late thanks to the postal service that discriminates against small publications. As usual I gave it a quick scan to see what the main issues are. When I got to the back page the piece that particularly drew my attention was the "retraction and correction" related to recent articles on Tom Monaghan and Ave Maria University and town. I read all the articles and was disappointed that the paper was caving in the face of Monaghan's pressure. The retraction on its face is simply not credible.

Since the very first controversy at Ave Maria over the Monaghan-designed monstrosity of a church, I've followed the events at the school closely. My husband and I were thrilled to hear of a new Catholic college and town and joined the "founders club" early on with regular contributions. However, we withdrew in the light of growing problems over, not only the design of the church, but the draconian actions taken against the Ave Maria Law School in Ann Arbor. We were appalled at the forced move to Florida including the removal of Dr. Charles Rice from the governing board and the suspension of three law professor who sued the president of the law school, Dean Bernard Dobranski, and Tom Monaghan. The professors subsequently won a settlement including full reinstatement and an undisclosed financial award. But a promising institution that had a 100% pass rate for the Michigan Bar Exam in 2004 and was accredited in the shortest time possible, ranked at the bottom in the 2010 U.S. News and World Report review of law schools.

The Wanderer's series of articles by Marielena Montesino de Stuart on the situation in Ave Maria were very disturbing, but subsequent events indicate the criticism of Monaghan and University president, Nicholas Healy, are thoroughly justified. Naming the sports center after billionaire Tom Golisano with his consistent funding of pro-abortion politicians was shocking. Galisano gave a million dollars to the Obama extravaganza democrat convention, consistently supports dozens of NARAL-backed politicians, and most recently promised to support publicly pro-abortion Charlie Crist after he fled the Republican party to run as an independent. These are the actions of a man who claims he is pro-life?

With regard to the problem of Ave Maria's town charter that allows abortion, what is there to retract? No less an authority than constitutional scholar Charles Rice wrote an article in The Wanderer in the February 18th edition titled The Controversy Behind Monaghan's Ave Maria "Scheme". Professor Rice affirmed all the documentation from the previous article and concluded:

A curious question arises from the conclusion that the absolute prohibition of abortion in the first sentence of Section 6.5(V) is unconstitutional and void. If that prohibition is void, all that could possibly be left of Section 6.5(V) is the restriction on promotion, counseling and referrals. But if “promotion” of abortion is not counseling or referral, what is it? Does it include the performance of abortions? Can you promote abortion by performing abortions? The drafters of Section 6.5(V) drew a distinction between performance and promotion of abortion. But how can you perform abortions without promoting abortion? Promotion, unlike counseling and referrals, is a vague term and should not have been used in that context. If the absolute prohibition of abortion is void and if promotion of abortion can include performance of abortions, Mrs. Marielena Montesino de Stuart’s criticism has merit.

In any event, Mrs. Montesino de Stuart understated her case. Will Ave Maria Town be required to permit the performance of some abortions? Yes, if, as seems clear, Ave Maria is subject to the Fourteenth Amendment under the criteria ofMarsh v. Alabama.

The underlying problem here is that the architects of the Ave Maria scheme undertook to create a town and exempt it from the constitutional restrictions that apply to state and local governments and to private persons assuming public functions by the operation of such a town. The incoherence of that course legally means that it will apparently be up to the abortionists to decide whether some abortions will be performed in Ave Maria Town. Any claim to the contrary is, in my opinion, a misrepresentation.

Since Dr. Rice wrote this, Ave Maria has stepped into another morass (Is it because they're located in a swamp?) over Monaghan turning over a section of land so that eugenics pioneer Jackson Labs can locate in Ave Maria Town. In view of all these problems with Ave Maria and the obvious accuracy of the articles illustrated by the analysis of a constitutional scholar, exactly what is really going on at The Wanderer and why did they print a retraction (with a face-saving refusal to concur on one issue)?

Here's my educated guess. First, everybody knows The Wanderer is in financial trouble. It's mentioned in almost every issue. Second, Tom Monaghan has plenty of money to engage in a frivolous lawsuit which the paper can ill afford and he has shown himself perfectly willing in the past to go after those who disagree with him (Remember the professors at the law school in Ann Arbor?). Third, and this pains me to consider, Monaghan can "help" The Wanderer with its difficulties. All it takes is throwing a troublesome journalist under the bus and retracting a few facts that are true, but unpleasant for Monaghan.

If my third supposition is true, you will never see another critical item about Tom Monaghan and Ave Maria appear in The Wanderer's pages. You may even see full page ads for Ave Maria gracing the back page. And anyone who thinks Monaghan would buy an ad from a critic needs a reality check.

The Wanderer has been described as a "witness to the truth," a well deserved accolade. But if the paper caved to Monaghan over money, that witness is in mortal jeopardy: a newspaper that has been fearless in its reporting for over 100 years has sold its soul.  It's integrity will have been bought by a pragmatist who, while paying lip service to the faith, is willing to compromise Catholic values to get what he wants. Is Ave Maria really about the Blessed Mother and the promotion of the faith or is it the legacy of a man building a shrine to himself? Pray for Tom Monaghan and all those he is willing to injure to reach his goals. The list is growing. Pray especially that this is not the death knell of The Wanderer. I love the paper and have myself written articles for it. The mourning will indeed be great if the great witness to the truth becomes one more jockey in Tom Monaghan's stable.

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.

Ave Maria Stoops to New Low by Banning Journalist from Property

Ave Maria Town is the home of Catholic journalist Marielena Montesino de Stuart. It's also home to Ave Maria University, the school founded by Tom Monahan, the Domino's Pizza giant. Since its founding the university has been beset by problems related to its iron-fisted handling of a number of situations. First it was moving from Ann Arbor, MI and breaking promises to numerous faculty and staff there. Then it was demanding the move of the law school which not only broke more promises, but destroyed its excellent standing and threatened its accreditation. Ave Maria fired Fr. Joseph Fessio - twice, the second time during summer vacation apparently to avoid student protests and adverse publicity.

With Mrs. de Stuart, the iron fist is up close and personal. The university has banned her from its property. But much of Ave Maria town belongs to the university so the de Stuart family who live there are forbidden from their own neighborhood. FOX news covered the story which described how her children are now afraid to leave the house. Makes one thrilled at the thought of living in that town, doesn't it?

That this type of action could take place at a campus founded specifically to advance orthodox Catholicism is shocking, but it's become typical of how Ave Maria operates. Fr. Fessio was fired (the second time) because he PRIVATELY took concerns about the financial stability of the university to the head of the board of directors. Obviously the stability of Ave Maria town is directly related to the health of the university, so Mrs. de Stuart's concern is well founded.

Ave Maria's unchristian behavior has brought criticism from notable Catholics like eminent lawyer Charles Rice and others. The destruction of the Ave Maria Law School and the treatment of several of the faculty members is, as Rice puts it, "beyond contempt."

My husband and I welcomed Ave Maria with outstretched arms. We signed up for the Founders' Club and began giving a monthly donation. When things started to come apart early on we reluctantly withdraw. We felt the blow to the law school in Ann Arbor personally because we knew several friends with children there.

Those who criticize Ave Maria and have any connections at all that make them vulnerable to the wrath of Tom Monaghan can expect reprisal. Marielena Montesino de Stuart settled in Ave Maria Town with high hopes that it would be a truly Catholic experience. What's happening to her now sounds like hell. That it is being done in the name of a university named after the Blessed Mother is not only appalling, but a crucifixion.

Tom Monaghan seems like a sincere man who wants to spend his fortune doing good. De Stuart doesn't question the motives of him or anyone involved in the Ave Maria venture, but one can't help but wonder that a man, who claims he divested himself of his luxuries to pursue a Catholic vision has gone about it like a tyrant. One thing that makes me scratch my head about his comments on pride is the fact that he designed the church for the town. What exactly qualifies the pizza king to design a church, which has been widely criticized. View the videos below and judge for yourself what's

Pray for all who have been hurt during the building of this so-called Catholic University and town and pray especially for Tom Monaghan. A man with money who can call the shots that impact people's lives had better be sure he's doing God's will.