In the town of Ave Maria, parents need not worry about which school their children will attend. The town has been built for Roman Catholics and all the schools guarantee a traditional Catholic upbringing.
The daily school run through this newly established enclave, funded by a Catholic billionaire and built on a slice of rural Florida that used to be a tomato farm, takes mums and dads along roads with names such as Anthem Parkway and Annunciation Street.
In Ave Maria, which opens its gates to the public today, there are morals to be upheld and souls to be saved, and the biggest secular temptation will probably prove to be the local ice-cream parlour.
Students at the town’s schools and its Catholic university, the first to be built in the US for more than 40 years, will be housed in single-sex halls of residence and encouraged to partake in more wholesome extracurricular activities than the usual late-night binge drinking and dormitory trysts ”“ such as visiting the chapels attached to every block.
The roads will supposedly be clean and safe, the schools graffiti-free and disciplined, and the residents kind and sharing. “It is to be a true community, where neighbours care about neighbours, friendships span generations, and a sense of pride is felt by every resident, student and worker,” the sugary marketing spiel promises.
Visitors are meant to feel God’s presence in the design. The town’s focal point is a spectacular church that will ultimately house the nation’s biggest crucifix, 65 feet (20m) tall, complete with an image of the bleeding Christ in stained glass. Faith, worship and clean living are at the town’s family-friendly core.
Their favorite carol is Good King Wenceslas (Deep pan, crisp and even).
Ghetto Catholicism, with the whole town being the ghetto. As one prospective buyer said on a news segment this evening: “I want to live in a place where people think like me.” He probably will get his wish–but a whole city?
The architecture of the chapel is ugly, and oppressive. For some reason the thought of Calvin’s Geneva (which in some respects was even too much for Calvin) sticks in my mind.
There was an ad in the real estate section of the paper last week for a Catholic neighborhood in Tallahassee:
Mission San Luis Estates — live in a neighborhood of family, faith, etc.
In addition to the usual advertising of playgrounds, green spaces, etc. there was mention of “Prayer Garden”.
It’s actually San Miguel, Jim–San Luis is the 17th-century Spanish mission in what is now Tallahassee.
San Miguel has been in the works for a few years now. The plan is just 85 homes. While it’s been promoted to the Catholic community, of course it’s open to any interested parties.
#2 Bob from Boone”
“Ghetto Catholicism”? Nice. I wonder if the prospective buyer you mentioned intended his comments to be as fundamentalist as you have interpreted them? IMHO I kinda think there’s something to be said for a community with a Christian ethos at its heart gathered around a Christian University. (Nothing new here. The “Ghetto Episcopalianism” of Sewanee comes to mind as a historic example of the idea, among others). I’m sure there are worse things in the world.
Thanks, Franksta, I looked for the ad and couldn’t find it — recycling was picked up yesterday!
Bread, please. Why do you characterize the man’s comments as “fundamentalist”? Did you hear him and think otherwise? Please explain.
Now I was a Sewanee student from 1957 to 1961, and while there was a distinct Anglican (and Southern) ethos back in the old days, Sewanee was hardly a “ghetto.” I got an excellent liberal arts education there, the kind that teaches you to think for yourself. I can assure you that all of the people in my class did not think like me. In fact 30 of us participate in a class listserv today and we express a variety of views about politics, religion, the environment, other things–just like we did as students. We range from liberal to libertarian in our views. When I have visited Sewanee in recent years I have found the student even more diverse in religious and other backgrounds than in my day.
But in the present case, one must distinguish town residents from university students. This guy was considering residence. Whether the ethos of Ave Maria University will be liberal arts Catholic and encourage diversity of thought and opinion–of that we shall see. Everything I’ve learned about Mr. Monaghan gives me pause, however. (BTW, I also know what a Catholic liberal arts ethos is like: I did my graduate work at Notre Dame.)
It remains to be seen whether Ave Maria will be any more successful in sustaining its intentional community in the 21st century than the Puritan townships of Massachusetts and Connecticut were in the late 17th and early 18th (simple historical comparison here, nothing else implied).
I would share many of the principles espoused by prospective residents of Ave Maria, but I also wonder if making the intentional community so all-encompassing is a good idea.
Wow, Bob. I’ve lived in Sewanee most of my adult life. Not every person there is Episcopalian, that’s true. But it’s the most blatant example of Episcopal (read: Liberal Protestant) GroupThink I’ve ever encountered. Either one is ‘diverse’ and ‘tolerant’ or one is ostracized. I wonder if you’ve spent much time with the students who have been frozen out of All Saints’ Chapel. I did. Or the faculty members who have been the subject of rolled eyes and sniggering because they’re Catholic or Baptist or Mormon. I did. It is truly the least tolerant place I have ever encountered. All viewpoints are welcome except orthodox Christianity. There are people who post here regularly who will second that, I’m sure.
So give me a truly Catholic ghetto. Monaghan sounds like he has a screw loose, yes, but the idea of an intentional community of Christians isn’t sinister. It’s been done before: St. Anthony, St. Benedict, the Amish, the Mennonites, the Shakers. Maybe it will peter out, maybe not. But it sounds perfectly fine to me.
# 9 – Let’s see how it pans out! 🙂
Jeremy has it exactly right. And Ave Maria, FL, will be even less successful in maintaining an intentional community than the Massachusetts Bay Colony because of the rapid expansion of the Naples area expands, and also because there are now federal and state fair housing laws. I give Ave Maria 20 years for it to exist a functional intentional Catholic community. And, given the increasing estrangement between Mr. Monahan and conservative Catholics (his constituency) because of his control-freak reputation, it’s a fair question as to whether town and gown will be stillborn at the outset.
I think it would be a kick if a bunch of immigrant Hispanics moved into Ave Maria. They, of course, would be all Catholics, but the majority of conservative Catholics would complain about how all the shabby Hispanics ruined the place.
I am surprised to read the disparaging comments toward Ave Maria. I find the experiment a worthy one and I wish it much success. I have one good friend who was in Ave Maria’s first graduating class, and another who lectures there occasionally. Both have high regard for the institution of learning– fine scholarship with an aim to revive the Catholic academy, may their attempt be fruitful. In terms of a community, how wonderful is the idea of raising a family, living and working, in a community where the church (and civil society) are indespensable pillars of the ethos and social structure.
This is a microcosm of the Christian vision for society (allowing for the reality of pluralism, of course, which I would assume is not casually disregarded). Granted, the architecture of the cathedral is disappointing, but the idea is laudable and methinks the experiment is exciting.
Bob from Boone #7: I used the term “fundamentalist” because…following your negative “ghetto” analogy…that sounded like the way you were interpreting his comments. I would imagine there are a number of people moving to Ave Maria (maybe even this man) who, when they speak of being in a place where others think like they do, simply mean there are some common and basic principles and values that help frame the community (in this case Christian and Catholic) without which there is no community. I’ll admit that my comment originates with my reaction to the word “ghetto” as a negative qualifier of everything that followed: Ave Maria, that man’s comment, Catholic Communities, Christian Communities, etc… Maybe I should have reacted more succinctly. Like this: Why don’t you be nice and lighten up.
PS: If we have to be negative and stick with the ‘ghetto’ term, then I’ll stand by the Sewanee analogy….and I resonate with Angllicanuum’s comments on that point (#9). And, yeah, I went to Sewanee.
Ave Maria sounds like a place where a family may be able to raise G rated kids in a R rated world. Can that be a negative thing?
#14 I agree…at least you’d have a better chance, me thinks. Tho’ some might think “G” is for “Ghetto” and “R” is for “Right On!”…LOL!