I've been thinking about the Tom Monaghan Catholic utopia project in Florida, and the one thing that keeps nagging at the back of my mind is why is he building it in Florida instead of near Detroit where he made his fortune and he's something of a civic leader.
I'm thinking about Indian reservations with mineral rights or gambling revenue to invest, self-sustaining Amish communities, and the Mormon settlement of Salt Lake City transforming into a tolerant law-abiding community. I'm also thinking about the lawless qualities of Hispanic-dominated barrios acting as enclaves to protect illegal immigrants, Saudi-funded Islamic colonies acting as seeds for sharia law within America, and overwhelmingly black communities bankrupting themselves in permanent Welfare sinkholes like Washington D.C. and New Orleans.
More good than bad will come from Monaghan's project, I believe, but there's always the possibility that obnoxious "civil rights" assholes cut from the same cloth as Peace House in Crawford will move in just to act as a nuisance and prevent any good from coming from the project.
The key, as is with all "utopian" settlements, is that they operate within the law as much as any other settlements.
As for the concept of porn on blocking cable television and other restrictions, how will they control dish-based video delivery or Internet-based video? Will they be providing Internet access and then firewalling/censoring content?
I'm a firm believer that homosexuality is a combination of genetic and social factors, but mostly genetic. There will be a portion of the children of the community that will turn out gay. How will Ave Maria handle them? Will they be ostracised, or will they be someone tolerated in a manner that still won't be good enough for the likes of Andrew Sullivan?
Comments (4)
He started Ave Maria College in Michigan and wanted to expand there, but apparently had trouble getting the appropriate permissions from state and local government officials.
There's a fair amount of discussion of this in the Catholic blogosphere; plenty of people think it's a bad idea. Sample: (from Erik Keilholtz):
"This is yet another case of sad, misguided Catholics buying into the Puritan Myth: hook, line, and sinker. If you think that your neighbors are not pure enough, then pull up all your roots and move somewhere else, somewhere where the pure can start afresh, in brand nieeew houses, without the ugly stain of someone else's sin to deal with.
"Oh, your daughter, who was horridly catechised to think that the GOP is the magisterium rebels and leaves the church? Now, obviously, you cannot allow her to inherit your house in Monaghanstadt, because she would be ritually impure. Now what?
"I am all in favor of Catholic cities and towns. Let's start with San Francisco, Chicago, New York. If the Rome of the Caesars could eventually become Catholic, quit whining and get to work.
"And leave this cursed neo-Puritan "Fresh, Niieeeeew Start" idea on the trash heap where it belongs."
Posted by Atlantic | March 1, 2006 7:51 PM
Posted on March 1, 2006 19:51
A great opportunity for an adult pizza shop.
Posted by Ron Hardin | March 2, 2006 12:34 AM
Posted on March 2, 2006 00:34
Atlantic- Actually, I was kind of looking for a "Because Detroit is being colonized by Islam, driving out Catholicism."
Posted by Laurence Simon | March 2, 2006 10:12 AM
Posted on March 2, 2006 10:12
Er...can I blame my lack of sharpness on the terrible headache I had from fasting on Ash Wednesday? Also, when I think "Michigan", I tend to free-associate to "all my seriously Swedish-American relatives".
The first Ave Maria was in Ypsilanti, anyway.
Posted by Atlantic | March 2, 2006 7:06 PM
Posted on March 2, 2006 19:06