Billionaire Tom Monaghan personally..
+ ... made $1M on 64 acres of prime land Ave Maria Town valued at almost $2M
+ ... put his money into his own foundation, with assets over $153M in 2005
+ ... is a partner in a local Florida bank run by his foundation's CFO
+ ... is a manager in a local condo business (AMD Condo's, LLC)
+ ... is a manager in Ave Maria Utility Co.
+ ... is a manager in a local construction gravel/asphalt company (Ave Maria Rinker Materials)
+ ... owns three area properties, total value at over $4.6M
+ ... owns who-knows-how-many millions in Michigan land, cash, and assets

Despite all this, Tom Monaghan no longer thinks of himself as wealthy (Naples Daily News, Jan. 1, 2008):
" 'I'm a former rich man,' Monaghan said in an interview last month. 'It was planned that way. I figured by the time we got this open I was going to be pretty well tapped out and I am at least as far as liquid assets go.' "
Liquid assets only count for the measure of being 'rich'? On many occasions, it has been stated that Monaghan's contribution to AMU would be $250M. So, how does he get from being down $250M to not being "rich" after having a net worth around $1B prior to the project? There's a big difference between being "tapped out" (i.e. money gone) and simply not wanting to spend any more from the stock pile. But even then, Monaghan "gave" the money back to himself. Look at the 23 buildings that he (as AMU) bought from himself (as Ave Maria Town's developer).

His delusion about not being rich has a history:
Gulfshore Life Magazine, April 2006: Tom Monaghan - "By the time we get through to the first phase on this new campus, I'm going to be pretty well broke. I mean, I'm not going to starve, but I won't be rich by any stretch of the imagination. And that's fine. ... I didn't give up luxury, but I gave up ostentatious things. I can't live like a monk. I'm married and have children."
Would any rationale person say that someone who owns the list of things at the top of this article is "pretty well broke" and not "rich by any stretch of the imagination"? The sad truth is that Monaghan expects many of his employees to live like monks while being married and supporting a Catholic-sized family in one of the most expensive places to reside in America, south Florida. Also, at the time Monaghan made the above statement, how many of his children were actually dependents (he married in 1962)? None.

How is it that, for all of the priests and supposedly virtuous people who surround Tom Monaghan, nobody has pulled him aside to say "You have some serious issues and need help." Maybe they care more about access to his cash, and the benefit it brings their own interests, than Monaghan's sanity or soul.

Question: Would you grant accreditation to a school whose primary benefactor (a) insists that it move to his own yet-unfinished real estate development in south Florida 1,300 miles away and (b) says that he is "tapped out" for offering financial support to the institutions in that development? More fundamental, what school's Board would be nutty enough to agree to uproot their institution under such a plan? That is the situation for Ave Maria School of Law in Michigan. Does the ABA, the school's accreditor, know that AMSL's primary benefactor is "tapped out"? AveWatch is beginning to think that Monaghan wants to provoke the ABA, using their punitive response as an excuse to liquidate Michigan assets for Florida.

Tom Monaghan is setting the stage to be disinterested in Ave Maria. He will claim being too bold to be successful, being too big and too fast "for the Church", and having a martyrdom to be proud of... all while enjoying the smug oxymoronic satisfaction of being, in his mind, both "broke" and a multi-millionaire living in luxury. The wake of Tom Monaghan's attempt to "take as many people as he can to heaven" is cluttered with intellectual and financial waste too costly to calculate, and the damaged careers of a generation of golden-hearted Catholic students, alumni, faculty, and staff.

AMSL Dean Bernard Dobranski, trying to give the appearance of not being bound to his current Sugar Daddy, seeks someone else willing to exchange money for naming rights to their Florida building (National Law Journal, Dec. 17, 2007):
""We'd like to find someone who would want the opportunity to have their name associated with the school, to help us with the construction costs.."
Later that day, Dobranski offered this classic self-righteous clarification in an email to AMSL staff and students: "The Ave Maria School of Law name is not for sale for any sum, and the name will not be changed for any reason, financial or otherwise. It is who we are."
Now there's uncompromising moral standards, right?! Of course Dobranski can't sell the name. It is already owned as a brand name by another billionaire... Dobranski's client, Monaghan. "It is who we are", indeed.

AMU lawyer-president Nick Healy on the inability to have Mass in the oratory (Naples Daily News, Dec. 22, 2007):
"The university had hoped to have Dewane celebrate a dedicatory Mass during its grand opening weekend for the new campus and oratory on Jan. 13, but Healy said those plans were never firm. 'It was never scheduled,' he said. 'It was only simply a possible date.'
Nick Healy is only further damaging the credibility of himself and Ave Maria by having us to believe that this oratory grand opening was "only simply a possible date" when:
+ AMU promised a Latin Mass in the oratory for Tom Monaghan's $1,500/person Legatus conference scheduled for late January.
+ (Naples Daily News, Jan 9. 2007):
"Ave Maria had previously advertised the date for the grand opening weekend with a full-page advertisement in the summer edition of the magazine sent to the school’s donors. 'Save the Date' a headline read, below 'Grand Opening Weekend' above it and this weekend’s date. The date was listed on the school’s online calendar as recently as mid-December, but has since been deleted."
+ (Naples Daily News, Nov. 8, 2007):
"The university has also invited Dewane to celebrate the oratory’s dedicatory Mass now scheduled for Jan. 13. The oratory, located at the center of the new Ave Maria town 35 miles from downtown Naples, remains on schedule to receive its certificate of occupancy from Collier County in December, according to Healy and Don Schrotenboer, Ave Maria’s project manager. That means it could hold Christmas Mass inside, but Healy said the school wanted to give Dewane the opportunity to celebrate the oratory’s first Mass. 'If the bishop wants to do the dedicatory Mass on the first day, then we want to reserve that honor for him,' he said".
The hubris is astounding. Healy invited the Bishop to the "honor" of doing a Mass in a building that the Bishop himself had not yet approved for Mass! Healy went on say that "We are patiently and humbly waiting for our bishop to make his decision" -- yeah, while inviting the Bishop and donors to the Grand Opening. It would all be knee-slapping funny if it wasn't so pathetic.

Tom Monaghan speculates on why his Ave Maria Town development is doing so poorly in sales (Naples Daily News, Jan. 1, 2008):
"There must be hundreds if not a thousand people who plan on moving here that can’t sell their homes. We hear that from people here and from all over the country."
So, he wants us to believe that a thousand people would move to Ave Maria Town if they could only sell their existing homes? To consider how irrational this is, first ask how many of those who can afford to move to Monaghan's development have moved? Very few. This population - those who are wealthy enough to buy in Ave Maria Town without needing their current home equity - defines Monaghan's circle of wealthy Catholic conservative friends. And, they're not buying. The "superfan" buys tickets to a concert, no matter the price; true believers buy, period. Where are these hundreds of Catholic superfans that the Colliers counted on Monaghan to attract? That market was saturated with information and opportunities long ago, back when it was a deal to buy and Fr. Fessio was AMU's popular face... and folks said "no thanks".
But, let's suspend reality and pretend that the problem isn't that smart money bypassed AMT. Who are these people who Monaghan thinks want to liquidate their home equity to buy in AMT? Don't they also need a job in the area? If not, what family-loving Catholic retiree wants to live on the road to nowhere in south central Florida with grandchildren hundreds of miles away, no adult children to help them, and no hospital in town?
Ave Maria Town's biggest buyer is Ave Maria University, funded by Tom Monaghan. He paid the Colliers to be a partner, now he is paying them again to buy his own townhouses. Baron Collier is playing Tom Monaghan as the yankee fool who buffered their risk in developing their own land. What a sucker.

Ave Maria employees were also good for a few nutty comments:

Robert Falls, Ave Maria's PR agent, tries to pretend that a grand opening for the oratory was never planned (Naples Daily News, Jan. 9, 2008):
"The university had planned an opening from Jan. 10-13 for its new permanent campus and oratory in eastern Collier County, but it was canceled. Another event following Ave Maria town’s opening in July and the university’s opening in August would be redundant, school spokesman Rob Falls said. 'What are we really going to celebrate the opening of?' Falls said. The school had invited Diocese of Venice Bishop Frank Dewane to celebrate a dedicatory Mass at the school’s new 100-foot tall, $24 million oratory... [..] Falls said the oratory’s status had 'nothing to do' with the opening’s cancellation. Falls added he didn’t know if there would be a separate celebration should Dewane officially sanction the oratory."
How could it be that "the oratory's status had 'nothing to do' with the opening's cancellation"? It is nonsensical. Also, we're to actually believe that Catholicism's PT Barnum (or is it Oral Roberts?) might not have "a separate celebration" if the Bishop were to "officially sanction the oratory"? Again, nonsense.

The "Pot Calling the Kettle" award goes to AMSL Chaplain Fr. Michael Orsi (American Spectator Magazine, Dec. 27, 2007) :
"Truth be told, [Billy] Graham comes off less as a strong spiritual guide than as someone who was blinded by his friendships with men of great power. He allowed himself to be used to promote the agendas of politicians aspiring to the presidency, as well as by those who had already climbed to the top [of] the greasy pole."
Would Orsi have any first-hand knowledge of being a 'spiritual guide' who 'was blinded by his friendships with men of great power'... of 'being used to promote the agenda' of 'aspiring' climbers? Instead of concentrating on "the limits of [Graham's] effectiveness in bringing the Gospel to the White House", maybe Orsi should focus on the Ave Maria house for which he is responsible. For Orsi's audio classics, go here.

Daniel Nodes, AMU literature professor (News-Press, Jan. 1, 2008):
"About 600 students attend Ave Maria, making it smaller than most elementary schools in Southwest Florida. 'There's still a feeling of hello ... the feeling of echoes on parts of the property,' Nodes said. 'But buildings are being built.' "
Actually, there's only about 435 students on campus at AMU, making it a small elementary school at that. AveWatch is told that enrollment feels so low that "you could fire cannons around campus and not injure anyone".

Tags: nutty