Priest, Monaghan, Guernsey: Had Plans
Thu, Aug09, 2007 - Category: University
| School of
Law
The ties that ran between Fr. William Thomas and Tom
Monaghan's Ave Maria enterprise appear to have been
deeper than simply Thomas' working relationship with
Law School Chaplain Fr. Michael Orsi. Click "More"
below.
[anything look similar?]
[Note: Much of the following comes from interviews
describing the first-hand interactions that Holy
Spirit Catholic Church parishioners had with Fr.
Thomas. Members of the parish's Development Committee
and Finance Committee were also interviewed. Ave
Maria's Dan Guernsey was contacted by email six days
ago. He was asked by AveWatch to "confirm, correct,
or clarify" excerpts involving him. No reply was
received.]
Background on this story is found here; the full series is here.
Fr. William Thomas arrived at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in August, 1999. At the time, the church was paid for and had $300,000 in the bank. Aside from a few restroom updates, the church's greatest physical need was for facilities to help its expanding adult education program. Volunteers in the parish established Holy Spirit Church as a reputable sponsor of conservative Catholic conferences (Fr. Benedict Groeschell, Fr. John Corapi, Fr. Mitch Pacwa, Radix). The conferences were held outdoors, under tents, on the parish's 37 acres. There was no financial goal tied to the conferences other than breaking even, something that the church was always able to achieve thanks to the dedication of hard-working volunteers.
After the conferences developed a reputation among Catholics in the Ann Arbor area, the Ave Maria Foundation approached the parish to donate money that would serve as a safety net, if needed, for extraneous conference costs. There were "no strings attached" to this donation. In response, Fr. Thomas supported Tom Monaghan's Agnus Dei Academy by donating space at Holy Spirit Church for an annual auction.
Many ideas were considered when discerning the best way to use the church's existing infrastructure and 37 acres to meet parish goals. In Fr. Thomas' second year at Holy Spirit, a Development Committee was formed to explore these options. McCarthy & Associates were brought-in as fund-raising consultants because of their long and successful track record in such endeavors. In conjunction with the Development Committee, McCarthy suggested $550,000 as the appropriate fund-raising goal for the then-specified improvements to the church and rectory.
But Fr. Thomas had other ideas. He was adamant that the church should have its own school despite the general lack of interest in such a project by parishioners and the Development Committee. Holy Spirit is a parish that has many dedicated homeschoolers; adult education needs were said to far out-weight the need or desire for a school. But Fr. Thomas persisted. His idea for a school expanded the proposed fundraising goal to $3 million, over 5-times the original amount suggested by the consultants.
Final pledges came in at just under $650K. Fr. Thomas was not deterred. Instead, he had multiple private meetings with Monaghan employee Dan Guernsey on the topic of how to start and operate a school. AveWatch readers may recognize Guernsey as the Ave Maria College President who oversaw its final dismantling and closure. He was President during the time that an AMC employee was in possession of Fr. Thomas' pornography-laiden computer hard drive... the missing drive that state police finally secured a search warrant to obtain. Guernsey was involved with Monaghan's grade school academies (Agnus Dei and Spiritus Sanctus) and now serves as Headmaster for Monaghan's "Ave Maria Grammar and Preparatory School" (K-12).
Thomas' school at Holy Spirit started in 2001 using makeshift space. With confidence, Thomas went on a spending spree. Rather than lease classroom trailers for $12K/year, he decided to outright buy them at a cost of $150K. Four architects were asked to submit bids, and the parish paid $7K to each ($28K total). Notre Dame's famed architect Duncan Stroik was consulted. Another consultant who discussed "how to talk to architects" was paid a whopping $92K. Fr. Thomas had expensive personal tastes as well. He was spending considerable amounts of money at a local gourmet food and wine shop (Taorello's) included in an average annual expenditure of $32,000 on personal items beyond his salary. The budget for the rectory ballooned for household expenses and improvements. Transfers from savings were made to pay the bills. Parishioners upset by Thomas' stewardship canceled pledges. The result was a development pledge shortfall of $220K three years into the campaign.
At that point, the Ave Maria Foundation (AMF) invited Thomas and the parish Development Committee to a meeting at Domino Farms. There, Dan Guernsey and AMF's Chief Financial Officer offered to match dollar-for-dollar a parish effort toward a school. But there were conditions:
The top panel of the photo
collage shows the most recent parish directory photo
of Fr. Thomas on the left; on the right is a fair-use
Newsweek image crop of Chairman Monaghan from 2006.
Except for cropping and labels, both are untouched.
Mr. Monaghan is wearing an Ave Maria pin. Is Fr.
Thomas also wearing an Ave Maria pin? The
middle panel shows an unaltered
close-up of Fr. Thomas' lapel; the right has Ave
Maria logos scaled to size and superimposed for
comparison. The bottom panel shows
an unaltered, but highly magnified, close-up of Fr.
Thomas' pin, with the AMSL logos overlaid for
comparison.
AveWatch has no confirmation that this is, in fact, an Ave Maria pin on Fr. Thomas. AveWatch was unable to find anyone who could confirm or deny having seen this pin on Fr. Thomas. Obviously, it is not a crime to wear an Ave Maria lapel pin. But, it is interesting that a man who was only one of six American priests belonging to the worldwide Schoenstatt Movement might wear an Ave Maria pin for his official directory/Diocesan photo. It is reported that Thomas proudly told parishioners about being invited to dinner with Mr. Monaghan in Florida.
To be clear, the purpose of this post is to establish that Fr. Thomas had multiple interactions with Ave Maria entities apart from AMSL Chaplain Orsi and prior to Thomas' child pornography investigation. AveWatch is not accusing anyone at Ave Maria of doing anything illegal nor of playing a larger role than already described in the "BoysCherries" posts.
Background on this story is found here; the full series is here.
Fr. William Thomas arrived at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in August, 1999. At the time, the church was paid for and had $300,000 in the bank. Aside from a few restroom updates, the church's greatest physical need was for facilities to help its expanding adult education program. Volunteers in the parish established Holy Spirit Church as a reputable sponsor of conservative Catholic conferences (Fr. Benedict Groeschell, Fr. John Corapi, Fr. Mitch Pacwa, Radix). The conferences were held outdoors, under tents, on the parish's 37 acres. There was no financial goal tied to the conferences other than breaking even, something that the church was always able to achieve thanks to the dedication of hard-working volunteers.
After the conferences developed a reputation among Catholics in the Ann Arbor area, the Ave Maria Foundation approached the parish to donate money that would serve as a safety net, if needed, for extraneous conference costs. There were "no strings attached" to this donation. In response, Fr. Thomas supported Tom Monaghan's Agnus Dei Academy by donating space at Holy Spirit Church for an annual auction.
Many ideas were considered when discerning the best way to use the church's existing infrastructure and 37 acres to meet parish goals. In Fr. Thomas' second year at Holy Spirit, a Development Committee was formed to explore these options. McCarthy & Associates were brought-in as fund-raising consultants because of their long and successful track record in such endeavors. In conjunction with the Development Committee, McCarthy suggested $550,000 as the appropriate fund-raising goal for the then-specified improvements to the church and rectory.
But Fr. Thomas had other ideas. He was adamant that the church should have its own school despite the general lack of interest in such a project by parishioners and the Development Committee. Holy Spirit is a parish that has many dedicated homeschoolers; adult education needs were said to far out-weight the need or desire for a school. But Fr. Thomas persisted. His idea for a school expanded the proposed fundraising goal to $3 million, over 5-times the original amount suggested by the consultants.
Final pledges came in at just under $650K. Fr. Thomas was not deterred. Instead, he had multiple private meetings with Monaghan employee Dan Guernsey on the topic of how to start and operate a school. AveWatch readers may recognize Guernsey as the Ave Maria College President who oversaw its final dismantling and closure. He was President during the time that an AMC employee was in possession of Fr. Thomas' pornography-laiden computer hard drive... the missing drive that state police finally secured a search warrant to obtain. Guernsey was involved with Monaghan's grade school academies (Agnus Dei and Spiritus Sanctus) and now serves as Headmaster for Monaghan's "Ave Maria Grammar and Preparatory School" (K-12).
Thomas' school at Holy Spirit started in 2001 using makeshift space. With confidence, Thomas went on a spending spree. Rather than lease classroom trailers for $12K/year, he decided to outright buy them at a cost of $150K. Four architects were asked to submit bids, and the parish paid $7K to each ($28K total). Notre Dame's famed architect Duncan Stroik was consulted. Another consultant who discussed "how to talk to architects" was paid a whopping $92K. Fr. Thomas had expensive personal tastes as well. He was spending considerable amounts of money at a local gourmet food and wine shop (Taorello's) included in an average annual expenditure of $32,000 on personal items beyond his salary. The budget for the rectory ballooned for household expenses and improvements. Transfers from savings were made to pay the bills. Parishioners upset by Thomas' stewardship canceled pledges. The result was a development pledge shortfall of $220K three years into the campaign.
At that point, the Ave Maria Foundation (AMF) invited Thomas and the parish Development Committee to a meeting at Domino Farms. There, Dan Guernsey and AMF's Chief Financial Officer offered to match dollar-for-dollar a parish effort toward a school. But there were conditions:
- that AMF choose the school's builder
- that AMF oversee project management, including building cost limits
- that AMF have final approval over the school's curriculum
- that AMF hire the principle and staff
- that AMF develop all policy handbooks
- that all women staff wear dresses
- that AMF "train" the school board
- that the board include Dan Guernsey and others by invitation
- that AMF provide school "conflict resolution and mediation"
- that the agreement between AMF and the parish last 10 years: "After three years should either party wish to terminate this agreement, Holy Spirit Catholic Church will reimburse the Ave Maria Foundation the balance of the loan. The remaining balance itself can be paid back over a five year period at 6% interest after the second year."
AveWatch has no confirmation that this is, in fact, an Ave Maria pin on Fr. Thomas. AveWatch was unable to find anyone who could confirm or deny having seen this pin on Fr. Thomas. Obviously, it is not a crime to wear an Ave Maria lapel pin. But, it is interesting that a man who was only one of six American priests belonging to the worldwide Schoenstatt Movement might wear an Ave Maria pin for his official directory/Diocesan photo. It is reported that Thomas proudly told parishioners about being invited to dinner with Mr. Monaghan in Florida.
To be clear, the purpose of this post is to establish that Fr. Thomas had multiple interactions with Ave Maria entities apart from AMSL Chaplain Orsi and prior to Thomas' child pornography investigation. AveWatch is not accusing anyone at Ave Maria of doing anything illegal nor of playing a larger role than already described in the "BoysCherries" posts.