{"id":1640,"date":"2007-07-29T09:24:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-29T09:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/building-a-catholic-university-by-degrees.html"},"modified":"2007-07-29T09:24:00","modified_gmt":"2007-07-29T09:24:00","slug":"building-a-catholic-university-by-degrees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/building-a-catholic-university-by-degrees.html","title":{"rendered":"Building a Catholic university by degrees"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> While a lot of attention has been focused on Ave Maria<\/a>, the shiny new Catholic-centric town in Florida, less attention has been focused on the university sprouting up around it. This, too, is the brainchild of zillionaire and pizza magnate Thomas Monaghan. Now a newspaper in Kansas gives us a peek<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Rising 10 stories from former citrus and pasture land, the Oratory of Ave Maria University looks like a gigantic steel-and-stone artifact of the Industrial Age. But it\u2019s the vision of a former pizza magnate \u2014 his citadel of faith and learning in southwest Florida.<\/p>\n

Now that the 4-year-old Catholic school has a permanent home, Thomas S. Monaghan smiles confidently.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like when we finally had a headquarters for Domino\u2019s Pizza,\u201d Monaghan said, relaxing in the student reading room of the sprawling university where he is chancellor. \u201cWe weren\u2019t settled until then. But after then, we took off.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that we\u2019re here, I think this will become one of the fastest-growing private schools in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an ambitious statement for a college built on the edge of the Big Cypress Swamp in an area better known for retirees, sod farms and winter vegetables. But if it doesn\u2019t thrive, it won\u2019t be for lack of money or effort at the new school.<\/p>\n

Reporters at an open house last week found a 930-acre campus with the church, classrooms, science labs, a huge library and a student union \u2014 plus the beginnings of a 4,070-acre town.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the fruit of a campaign by Monaghan to create \u201can outstanding liberal arts school, coupled with outstanding spiritual fidelity to the church.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not a conservative school, he stressed, a label that many have pinned on the university. But one that \u201cis in line with the pope, the Vatican and teachers of the church.\u201d<\/p>\n

As such, he said, Ave Maria emphasizes doctrinal and sexual fidelity, plus regular attendance at Mass, confession and religious holy days.<\/p>\n

By 2008, Monaghan estimates, he will have donated $300 million to $400 million to the university, including land, building and operating costs. He also plans to move his Ave Maria School of Law from Michigan to Florida by 2009.<\/p>\n

The university emphaszies a general liberal arts education, including religion, philosophy, political science, literature, math and Latin. The academics were the \u201chard part,\u201d according to Nicholas J. Healy Jr., the university\u2019s president.<\/p>\n

Healy echoed his boss\u2019s beliefs, saying Ave Maria is a \u201cnormal Catholic university \u2014 although these days, normal doesn\u2019t mean typical. Most of our faculty are Catholic, and our students are taught a Catholic moral life. If you\u2019re looking for a party school, for hooking up and binge drinking, this isn\u2019t the place for you.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The plans are ambitious, to say the least. Could this become a Steubenville<\/a> of the south? Stay tuned. <\/p>\n

Photo: Thomas Monaghan, from the Kansas City Star<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While a lot of attention has been focused on Ave Maria, the shiny new Catholic-centric town in Florida, less attention has been focused on the university sprouting up around it. This, too, is the brainchild of zillionaire and pizza magnate Thomas Monaghan. Now a newspaper in Kansas gives us a peek: Rising 10 stories from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBuilding a Catholic university by degrees - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/building-a-catholic-university-by-degrees.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Building a Catholic university by degrees - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While a lot of attention has been focused on Ave Maria, the shiny new Catholic-centric town in Florida, less attention has been focused on the university sprouting up around it. This, too, is the brainchild of zillionaire and pizza magnate Thomas Monaghan. 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