Neal J. Conway: With Friends Like Tom Monaghan -- The Final Word

With Friends Like Tom Monaghan --The Final Word
4/03/07
This Tom Monaghan / Ave Maria epic is getting to be too much for me and this will be my last word about it. It is probably the biggest story in American Catholicism today. It is complicated. It has more moving parts than congressional legislation. RealityTV has nothing on it nor could the most feverish conspiracy theorists dream it up. I've heard of Rotten Cabbage Rebellions and medieval students stabbing their professors to death with pens, but I don't think so much rancor has ever surrounded Catholic educational institutions as much as it surrounds the Ave Maria schools.

Every month, it seems, something new happens or is revealed, but developments always confirm patterns that have been evident for years, to wit: that Tom Monaghan runs his schools like dictatorships, yet he knows nothing about running schools (Starting the College of Pizzarology doesn't cut it.), that he is surrounded by sycophantic enablers (administrators, board members) who are dependent upon him or after his money, that Ave Maria institutions are poorly managed, that good Catholics who came to Ave Maria believing that it was a true Ex Corde Ecclesiae school are getting screwed.

On March 21 came the stunning news that Rev. Joseph Fessio, SJ, provost of Ave Maria University in Immolakee, FL, was fired and asked to leave the campus immediately. Then, on March 22, AMU delivered the bizarre announcement that Fessio had been rehired, but in a non-administrative capacity.

In February, the final decision to move Ave Maria School of Law (AMSOL) from Ann Arbor, MI, to the proximity of other Ave Maria installations in Florida was made. It was a decision anticipated but heavily resisted by some AMSOL faculty and alumni.

Also in February, Defenders of Wildlife threatened a court challenge to a permit granted to Ave Maria by two government agencies responsible for panther habitats on which Ave Maria facilities are being developed.

The State of Michigan Court of Appeals has reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by an Ave Maria employee who had been fired for "whistleblowing," discussing Ave Maria College/University's improper handling of student-loan funds with Department of Education investigators.

A-3 in WaPo

The firing-rehiring of Fessio put Ave Maria in a place that conservative Catholics really don't want to be, on page A-3 of The Washington Post (3/24/07). The unceremonious "get-out-before-sundown" mandated for a top university official led to speculation among AM watchers that some scandalous news about the priest was going to break. However others noted that this sudden dumping has always been Monaghan's style of dismissing people, further proof that one man, not a board or other academic assembly, calls the shots at Ave Maria.

Speculators attributed Fessio's falling-out with Monaghan to the former's recently published comments about homosexuality that sounded "soft-line," or to stylistic differences between the Jesuit Fessio and a charismatic Catholic faction at Ave Maria. Monaghan has long had relationships with charismatic Catholics whose practice is characterized by living in communities and speaking in tongues at their Masses. Ave Maria President, Nicholas J. Healy, Jr. and his family also have connections to charismatic groups.

However, the firing was probably over the practical matter of student recruitment and it was probably Healy--and perhaps some insistent board members--who brought Fessio back. The AMU "semester abroad" in Gaming, Austria that Fessio is now tasked with "developing" is a Healy boon. Healy's son, Nicholas J. Healy, III, is, or was, director of the Ave Maria Austrian program.

Watchers were amazed that Fr. Fessio actually returned to Ave Maria after such an embarassing dismissal.

What Fessio should have been fired for was the fundraising letter that he wrote late in 2006. In this letter he told potential donors that the school was losing students and money. This writer used to work in fundraising and the dumbest thing a fundraiser could possibly do is ask donors to support something because it is in trouble.

In 2000 an expert in Catholic education, and again in 2003 two AMC board members, recommended that Fessio and Healy be replaced by professional educators.

The AMSOL Theater of War

Nowhere in the Ave Maria Empire has resistance to Monaghan rule been stronger and more organized than among faculty, students and alumni of Ave Maria School of Law. Some law-school alumni are using their very clever blog, Fumare, to make certain AM administrators look like they sit at the devil's left hand. When Monaghan announced that he was going to establish an orthodox Catholic university and law school, he attracted a lot of very smart academics and young folks who understand much better than the founder what orthodox Catholic institutions are and how they should function.

Moving from Michigan to Florida may threaten AMSOL's accreditation. Students and alumni with $10,000s in tuition or loans to pay would prefer to have on their resumees a law school approved by the American Bar Association. They would also prefer a better-ranked school; AMSOL, after a promising start, was just ranked in the bottom tier by US News & World Report. Serious law students also like to go to law schools that are near big cities with law firms where they can do internships and courts where they can do research.

Tom Monaghan--again, as someone whose idea of a university is very superficial and facilities-focused--seems to think that a school near the Florida surf will attract quality students. I had a professor in college, a refugee from a Florida "beach school," who couldn't wait to teach inland because, he said, the students who select colleges because of their proximity to beaches are pretty much the dumbest of the dumb.

Some AMSOL faculty are now looking into starting a new Ex Corde Ecclesiae law school in Michigan after AMSOL leaves.

On The Litigation Front

In my February, 2006 article about the Ave Maria mess, I said that a changing real estate market, left-wing litigation and a souring of Monaghan's relationship with developer Barron Collier would ultimately sink Ave Maria. I still believe they will. Also Monaghan is overdue to be "hit in the head" again and refocus on another grand scheme.

No stranger to legal wrangling, Monaghan was reportedly taken aback, saying "I thought we were way out in front on that one," when he heard that Defenders of Wildlife was threatening a lawsuit. This would be filed against the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over licenses that these agencies gave Ave Maria to develop in a panther refuge. DOW wants to force the agencies to make Monaghan / Barron Collier leave more land for the panthers. There are also implications that developer-friendly Florida governor Jeb Bush and his chief executive brother may have had a role in the license-granting.

Many employees of Ave Maria have been fired or ousted because they didn't go along with the administration's morally and legally wrong wishes. One of these was Katherine M. Ernsting who was fired for cooperating in a Department of Education investigation of Ave Maria's use of student-loan funds. Ave Maria was improperly using at AMU Florida funds that had been granted to AMC Michigan. When all was done, the school had to pay back $260,000. It was typical "It's OK to bend the pesky rules; nobody will notice or care" thinking that goes in many Catholic institutions. Ernsting sued for wrongful termination. Her case was dismissed, but a Michigan appeals court ruled in her favor allowing her to sue again, if she doesn't run out of money. Ave Maria is appealing to the Michigan supreme court. If Ernsting prevails there, this may open the door to other former employees filing suit.

Charismatic Connection and Conflict

As I put the finishing touches on this, my final comment about Tom Monaghan's Ave Maria establishments, word is coming out that there is and has definitely been a conflict between Charismatic Catholics and Conservative/Traditionalist Catholics on the Ave Maria University campus. The student body tends to be Conservative/Traditionalist. The administration is Charismatic.

Tom Monaghan's interest in Catholicism was kindled by Ralph Martin, founder of the Word of God charismatic community. Masses at the pizza empire's headquarters, Domino's Farms, were reported to be charismatic in style. The Word of God supported the Puebla Institute, founded by Humberto Belli who is now President of Ave Maria University, Latin American Campus in Nicaragua. Members of the Healy family are involved in charismatic groups.

I have no wish to portray charismatic Catholicism as sinister. While it is not my style and I've found some cradle-charismatics to have character issues, I have known and respected other charismatic Catholics and have enjoyed the benefits of their work. However it seems that charismatic communities, like Opus Dei communities, can easily slip into cult-like behavior. Both Word of God and The Mother of God Community in Gaithersburg, MD, became cults that had to be reformed. The Mother of God Community is, at the moment, an asset to the Archdiocese of Washington, DC. As cults, these communities were characterized by secrecy, control over members' lives and leadership that was not qualified to exercise in a prudent or moral manner the power and control that it had.

The same things have been said of Ave Maria.

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For Future Reference: Ave Maria What's What and Who's Who

Ave Maria College--Founded by Tom Monaghan in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1998. After he was unable to secure a building permit to construct a larger "university," Monaghan started looking around for big plots of land and eventually found the swamps of Collier County, FL. Ave Maria College will graduate its last class, all of three students, in 2007.

Ave Maria Foundation --The Foundation in Ann Arbor, MI, through which Tom Monaghan funds his Catholic projects.

Ave Maria School of Law -- Currently located in Ann Arbor, MI, the law school is slated to be moved to Florida by 2009.

Ave Maria Town --The town surrounding Ave Maria University in Immolakee, Collier County, FL. It is a joint project of Tom Monaghan and Barron Collier Cos. Monaghan's stated plan is that the profits from real estate sales will endow the university, making the financial success of the university dependent on real estate speculation. It was Ave Maria Town that Monaghan was referring to when he made the ACLU-baiting remark about stores located in the town being prohibited fom selling condoms or porn magazines.

Ave Maria University -- In November, 2002, Ave Maria College board of directors voted to move the college to Florida, however the actual decision to move was probably made by Monaghan long before that. In early 2004, the AMC board voted to transfer assets from Ave Maria College to the new university. A temporary campus was established in an old elementary school in Naples, FL. Ground for the AMU campus was broken in February, 2006 with the expectation that it will be in use by the start of the Fall, 2007 semester.

Ave Maria University, Latin American Campus --This San Marcos, Nicaragua, "satellite campus" was purchased by Monaghan's Ave Maria Foundation in 2000. It was unloaded by the University of Mobile. The impetus behind this purchase was probably AMU President Nicholas J. Healy, Jr. who unsuccessfully tried to get the Franciscan University of Steubenville to open a Nicaraguan campus.

Humberto Belli -- President of Ave Maria University, Latin American Campus. A former Sandanista Marxist who converted to Catholicism, Belli was the founder of The Puebla Institute, a think-tank concerning itself wth Latin American Christianity. The institute has been accused of being supported by the CIA and the Michigan-based Word of God charismatic community.

Charismatic Catholics -- Apparent in the Catholic Church only about 40 years or so, charismatic Catholics practice high-energy Masses that may involve speaking in tongues, dancing. Charismatics emphasize the working of The Holy Spirit through a person over the guidance of the intellect.

Bernard Dobranski -- Dean of Ave Maria School of Law. Former dean of the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. It is said that Dobranski was persuaded to give up his CU position for the AMSOL post by none other than Justice Antonin Scalia, the Jerry Colonna of The U.S. Supreme Court.

Rev. Joseph Fessio, SJ -- former provost of Ave Maria University, as of 3/22/07, "Theologian in Residence." Like Monaghan, this West-coast Jesuit priest, is a big thinker. And a big talker. He founded the successful Ignatius Press in 1978. He also launched the disastrous Catholic Family Radio enterprise which was intended to be profitable Catholic talk radio. It was not. Tom Monaghan may have been a secret backer of the CFR disaster. Fessio was about to start Campion College in San Francisco when the Jesuit provincial forbade him to do so and assigned him to a chaplaincy at a small hospital. Fessio complained in a newspaper interview that he had "more to contribute than to minister to the sick." Fessio and others make much of the fact that he was once a student of Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. However the same can be said of hundreds, if not thousands, of others.

Nicholas J. Healy Jr. -- President of Ave Maria University. Probably the most mysterious character in the whole story, Healy is regarded by critics as one of Monaghan's unquestioning henchmen. Healy is a retired maritime lawyer and former owner of a marine insurance firm. His father is the name partner in the New York Maritime Law firm, Healy & Baillie. It can be assumed from these facts that the Healy Family is pretty well-heeled. At various times, eight of Nick Jr.'s relatives have been connected to Ave Maria College / University as employees or as adjuncts. Two of Nick. Jr.'s children are Philosophy professors and one daughter is married to a Philosophy professor. One son, Nicholas J. Healy, III, is Director of the Austrian Program of Ave Maria College in Gaming and editor of Communio, the mag founded by Hans Urs von Balthasar. A daughter, Dr. Mary Healy, is Council Chair of Mother of God Community, a charismatic lay Catholic community in Gaithersburg, MD.
A Healy Family project seems to be missionary activities in former communist countries such as those in Eastern Europe and Nicaragua.

Immolakee -- The SW Florida site of former tomato fields, swamps and panther habitats on which Monaghan's Ave Maria town, university and law school are abuilding. Periodic mosquito-spraying is a necessity, one of the local public services paid for by taxes. The nearest big towns are Naples and Marco Island on the Gulf Coast, posh retirement communities for the wealthy of a generation who felt that Florida retirement was mandatory. The Gulf Coast is the side of Florida that takes the nastiest hits from hurricanes swirling in from the west/southwest. Ave buildings are supposed to withstand 150-mph winds, but the 2007 tornado near Tampa exceeded that speed.

Ralph Martin -- The man who shaped Tom Monaghan's interest in Catholicism, Martin is one of the founders of the Word of God charismatic missionary community in Ann Arbor, MI.

Tom Monaghan -- Chancellor of Ave Maria University and probably the only chancellor who does not have a college degree. Retired Founder of Domino's Pizza, once estimated to be worth between $1 and $2 billion. Monaghan's Catholic philanthropy began in the 1980s when, in his own words, he was "hit in the head" during an audience with Pope John Paul II.
Monaghan's Catholic projects have been characterized by the same fickleness with which he fulfilled his "dreams" of owning classic cars, Frank Lloyd Wright properties, the Detroit Tigers, only to sell these "dreams" shortly after acquiring them. His Catholic ventures include a newspaper that folded after a couple of years, a chain of Spiritus Sanctus Catholic elementary schools that have been cut back from four to two, and two Ave Maria radio stations in Michigan.
Monaghan does not say much publicly but when he speaks, people laugh. He recently announced a guarantee that young folks who go to his university will still attend Mass every Sunday after they graduate.

Traditionalist Catholics -- A growing group within the Catholic Church that is centered around what is commonly but inaccurately called "The Latin Mass." In fact, it is the Tridentine order of the Mass, used universally before the 1960s, recited in Latin. Some traditionalists believe that any non-Tridentine Mass is an invalid Mass. This includes the novus ordo Mass that most Mass-going Catholics hear. Traditionalists definitely would have a problem with charismatic Catholic Masses.

For More Info:

Google News Search

AveWatch: investigative journalism on Tom Monaghan's Ave Maria Foundation and entities.

New Oxford Review's Ave Maria College and University Topical Dossier

"Fumare: Law, Culture and Catholicism...up in smoke"

Ave Maria Parents Ave Maria News.