LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY egretplume)

The article "Purge at Ave Maria Law?" at Inside Higher Ed reviews internal conflicts at Ave Maria Law School, the Roman Catholic law school that is relocating from Michigan to Ave Maria, Florida as part of Thomas Monaghan's Roman Catholic education empire/gated community.

The law school dean, Bernard Dobranski, is trying to oust tenured professor Stephen J. Safranek.

Excerpt:

Safranek and other professors who disagree with the dean acknowledge that they did not favor the move to Florida, but many said that they were responsible in asking questions (to which they never received good answers) about how such a move would improve the academic program. Regardless of their views on moving to Florida, they said that the crisis facing the law school has to do with squelching of dissent and a very narrow view of authority and Catholic thinking. “Tom Monaghan and Dobranski view Catholicism as co-existing with the right wing of the Republican party, which means a 1920s-era, free market capitalism, exploitation of workers and employees, abuse of employees and their families — all is OK in the name of God, because God approves you if you are rich and powerful,” he [Safranek] said.

Safranek said that the law school’s leadership has abandoned not only academic freedom, but Catholic teachings about the dignity of individuals and the importance of treating one another with basic respect. “They are the ones who don’t believe what the faith has to teach,” he said. “We are really the ones trying to maintain the Catholic identity of the institution. They want it to be an offshoot of the Republican Party.”

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kiji_kat)

Pizza Magnate Modifies Plans for Fla. Town

"I would say I just misspoke," Monaghan said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press. "The town will be open to anybody."

Maybe it's just me being cynical, but I somehow get the feeling this is not the case.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY zarq)

Domino’s Pizza founder Thomas S. Monaghan is trying to establish a new city in Florida to be governed according to strict Roman Catholic principles, with no abortion, pornography or birth control. Welcome to America, Land of the Free and Home of the Brave Crusading Christian Theocracy.

The pizza magnate is bankrolling the project with at least $250 million and calls it “God’s will.”

Civil libertarians say the plan is unconstitutional and are threatening to sue.

The town of Ave Maria is being constructed around Ave Maria University, the first Catholic university to be built in the United States in about 40 years. Both are set to open next year about 25 miles east of Naples in southwestern Florida. The town and the university, developed in partnership with the Barron Collier Co., an agricultural and real estate business, will be set on 5,000 acres with a European-inspired town center, a massive church and what planners call the largest crucifix in the nation, at nearly 65 feet tall. Monaghan envisions 11,000 homes and 20,000 residents.

During a speech last year at a Catholic men’s gathering in Boston, Monaghan said that in his community, stores will not sell pornographic magazines, pharmacies will not carry condoms or birth control pills, and cable television will have no X-rated channels.

Homebuyers in Ave Maria will own their property outright. But Monaghan and Barron Collier will control all commercial real estate in the town, meaning they could insert provisions in leases to restrict the sale of certain items.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY scarcrest)

I saw seshen's recent post here about Domino's Pizza founder Thomas Monaghan's dream of building a Catholic city in Florida, keeping out pharmacies that sell birth control, etc. For a while, the pro-life camp was boycotting Domino's because of his support for anti-choice groups (I refuse to call Operation Rescue "pro-life"), and every time this story comes up online, his Domino's connection is mentioned in a way that makes it sound like he's still with the company. As I wrote in my journal a couple of weeks ago:

No, Domino's Pizza DOESN'T support anti-abortion terrorist group Operation Rescue. Its founder -- who's in the news for plans to create a town in Florida called Ave Maria, a town in which he'd own all the land and plans to keep pharmacies that sell birth control out of town -- has given money to them, yes, but he sold the company in 1998 and receives no money from them these days.

Buying Domino's Pizza before 1998 = good chance a couple of pennies of your money went to terrorists. (Well, people we'd call terrorists if they weren't Americans and didn't claim to be committing their crimes in the name of the Christian religion, anyway.)

Buying Domino's Pizza after 1998 = only hurting yourself, just like all the other junk we eat.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY seshen)

If Domino's Pizza founder Thomas S. Monaghan has his way, a new town being built in a quiet corner of southwest Florida will be governed by strict Roman Catholic principles, particularly when it comes to sex.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY usafpa)

entire article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11434439/site/newsweek/

"For Tom Monaghan, the devout Catholic who founded Domino's Pizza and is now bankrolling most of the initial $400 million cost of the project, Ave Maria is the culmination of a lifetime devoted to spreading his own strict interpretation of Catholicism. Though he says nonbelievers are welcome, Monaghan clearly wants the community to embody his conservative values. He controls all the commercial real estate in town (along with his developing partner, Barron Collier Cos.) and is asking pharmacies not to carry contraceptives. If forced to choose between two otherwise comparable drugstores, Barron Collier would favor the one that honored that request, says its president and CEO, Paul Marinelli. Discussing his life as a millionaire Catholic who puts his money where his faith is, Monaghan says: "I believe all of history is just one big battle between good and evil. I don't want to be on the sidelines."

The ACLU of Florida is worried about how he's playing the game. "It is completely naive to think this first attempt [to restrict access to contraception] will be their last," says executive director Howard Simon. Armed with a 1946 Supreme Court opinion that "ownership [of a town] does not always mean absolute dominion," Simon will be watching Ave Maria for any signs of Monaghan's request's becoming a demand. Planned Parenthood is similarly alarmed."

Imagine a town completely owned by a very religious man who wants to make his thoughts and feelings into the law for his town.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY exotic_princess)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11434439/site/newsweek/

Exerpt:

For Tom Monaghan, the devout Catholic who founded Domino's Pizza and is now bankrolling most of the initial $400 million cost of the project, Ave Maria is the culmination of a lifetime devoted to spreading his own strict interpretation of Catholicism. Though he says nonbelievers are welcome, Monaghan clearly wants the community to embody his conservative values. He controls all the commercial real estate in town (along with his developing partner, Barron Collier Cos.) and is asking pharmacies not to carry contraceptives. If forced to choose between two otherwise comparable drugstores, Barron Collier would favor the one that honored that request, says its president and CEO, Paul Marinelli. Discussing his life as a millionaire Catholic who puts his money where his faith is, Monaghan says: "I believe all of history is just one big battle between good and evil. I don't want to be on the sidelines."

The ACLU of Florida is worried about how he's playing the game. "It is completely naive to think this first attempt [to restrict access to contraception] will be their last," says executive director Howard Simon. Armed with a 1946 Supreme Court opinion that "ownership [of a town] does not always mean absolute dominion," Simon will be watching Ave Maria for any signs of Monaghan's request's becoming a demand. Planned Parenthood is similarly alarmed. So far, Naples Community Hospital, which plans to open a clinic in Ave Maria Town, says it will not prescribe any birth control to students. Will others be able to get the pill? "For the general public, the answer is probably yes, but not definitely yes," says hospital point man Edgardo Tenreiro. The Florida attorney general's office says the issue of limiting access will likely have to be worked out in court. Barron Collier and Monaghan say they're following Florida law.