I wonder how Mormons will fare in Tom Monaghan’s town with a Catholic theme, Ave Maria? As some of you may know, Monaghan is the founder of Domino’s Pizza. He sold the company and was left with a fortune. He has concentrated on projects that fulfill his conservative Catholic vision since then, including a new university, Ave Maria University. His new town, Ave Maria, on the edge of the Everglades, describes itself as a town with a Catholic theme. The linked London Sunday Times story says that means restrictions on the sale of birth control, no pornography and no abortions. Liberal groups are, of course, apoplectic.
My take: after a lot of attention and controversy, the sale of birth control will be permitted. Residents who want abortions will have to travel 20 miles to Naples. I love the idea of no pornography allowed on the local cable system, although I wonder how it will be implemented.
Will a Catholic town try to restrict LDS missionaries from proselytizing? Will other religions not be allowed to have meetinghouses? My guess is that Ave Maria will start out feeling a lot like Provo, Utah, Rexburg, ID and Laie, HI for Catholics. Yes, there will be other religions, and no restrictions on proselytizing, but the majority of people will be conservative Catholics and stay conservative Catholics. Over time, as the community grows, that will likely change.
It’s worth pointing out that just like Rexburg and Laie, Ave Maria will be pretty far from a large metropolitan location, and jobs will be difficult to find. It’s also worth pointing out that the area was economically depressed until the pizza baron came along.
Would I live in Ave Maria as a Latter-day Saint? Probably.
Is what they are doing really going to work?
I know there were a few Supreme Court cases that ruled that people still had a right to protest on some streets and sidewalks, even though they were privately owned, because they were a part of a “company town” who “had assumed the functions and role of a municipal government.”
Then you’ve got those cases that killed racially restrictive covenants on sale of property.
I’m not surre Ave Maria is going to pass muster.
I don’t know, but for what it is worth my best friend, and college roomate was a very strict Catholic. We got along very very well. Even if we disagreed heartily on deeper doctrine most of our day to day life was strikingly similar. She’d say her Rosary while I read the scriptures. We’d both bemoan the poor girls who wore miniskirts in the snow. The TV was mostly off on Sundays, and dirty music and movies weren’t heard or seen in our room. In fact I got along better with her than I did with some LDS girls I lived with. I think that active LDS and devout Catholics could get along very well. I’d be willing to live there too.
Our best allies in attempting to protect marriage in New Jersey were the strict Catholics and evangelicals. They agree down the line on our views on marriage, abortion, civil unions, etc.
The strict Catholics’ views on the death penalty, however, vary from the LDS and evangelicals’.
RB,
I’m a little suprised to see you characterize LDS and Catholic views on those subjects as being the same. The LDS Church allows abortion in cases in which the Catholic Church does not. I am not aware of the LDS Church having publically articulated a position on civil unions, but I know from private channels what it was in the mid-1990s, which was that civil unions are seen as an acceptable alternative to gay marriage.
I think they should be required to Anglicize the name of the town to Hello Mary.
Random John,
While it is true that the Legal Department of the Church attempted to be non-commital on civil unions, the brethern overruled the Legal Department and endorsed Utah legislation in 1994 which bans civil unions.
http://www.lds.org/newsroom/issues/answer/0,19491,6056-1-202-4-202,00.html
“The doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints affirms marriage between a man and a woman, and opposes same-gender unions and any other sexual relations outside of marriage. Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God to fulfill the eternal destiny of His children”
The Church used to own a town like this. It was Laie Hawaii. I am sure they were not as intrusive as all that but they did kick out people who became notorius and flagrant in their misbehavior.