This past Saturday, July 21, was the opening day for Ave Maria Town. The public was invited to the new town center to join in the festivities - have a hotdog, watch a bagpipes player, buy a condo etc.
Being that I’ve been following the Ave Maria story since the very beginning, this was somewhat of a must attend event for me. After all, I was at the very first inception Mass, when there was nothing but vast tomato and sod fields. I sat third row during the Vatican Choir performance at the Naples Phil in honor of the unveiling of the scuttled glass “hothouse” oratory that became the object of universal ridicule. I’ve gotten to know, and like Father Fessio through interviews and phone conversations. I penned a 16 page investigative report on the circumstances leading up to his firing. I’ve developed a relationship with many of the students, faculty and staff. I receive AMU fundraising and support request letters as I somehow got added to their donors list - even though I’m not one… yet.
Early on, my interest in the project stemmed only from my being a local Catholic who happens to own property in close proximity to location of the new university and town. Later, as webmaster of AQ, I began reporting extensively on the behind the scenes and political machinations at the University.
So, it seemed I had to either be there or be square; hence I was sure to accept the personal invitation that was sent to my home the week before the festivities. I thought I’d bring a camcorder along for the heck of it.
My wife and I were surprised at the amount of traffic on Oil Well Road, the two-lane (one in each direction) road leading out to what used to be, the boondocks of Collier County. Apparently this “grand opening” had been quite well publicized. After making the left off Oil Well, we drove along the long and winding access road leading to the town/university. We managed to find an ideal parking space that someone happened to be pulling out of just as we arrived. As we walked through the town center, a few things struck me.
The first thing that struck me was that the immediate “downtown” area around the oratory was created using the insta- beautification method that has become associated with nearly all Florida developments built within the last several decades; where any visible character and charm is created on a designer’s easel as opposed to being developed naturally over time from the seeds of an organic existing community. If you like this sort of “Disney campus” environment, you’ll like downtown Ave Maria. Personally, I despise such planned communities on many levels. I would never live in one. The immaculate landscaping and color coordinated, cookie-cutter improvements, to me, give more an appearance of “The Truman Show” than any American neighborhood with distinct character. I’m not interested in living on a postage stamp sized lot that is either partially or fully owned by the surrounding collective, then parting with wealth by paying hefty scheduled fees for the pleasure. The contrived perfection and prefab aesthetics of PUDs (Planned Unit Developments) belie the fact that community development and the system of home ownership, for some time, has been taking a turn for the worse. In America generally, and in Florida particularly, the days of buying a piece of land and building unencumbered individual homesteads are slowly (and very purposefully) coming to an end. Property and resource rights are being manipulated in such a way that the giant development corporations, such as WCI and Bonita Bay, are now doing the vast majority of building. Those who are familiar with the town of West Palm Beach can bear witness to where it all will ultimately end; - opulent PUD communities sharply contrasted by the surrounding squalor.
Although that rant is for another story, suffice to say that many of the locals who live near AMU are wondering why they were told that in order to prevent “urban sprawl” and to “protect the environment for our children,” 65,000 acres of privately owned lots and tracts had to condemned via eminent domain, while Ave Maria developers were pulling permits for thousands of housing units, along with several golf courses, only a few miles to the north.
Another thing that struck me as we walked along, was the quasi Frank Lloyd Wright (who hated Catholic architecture) building design we’ve been hearing so much about. The student dorms and university buildings were literally devoid of any character whatsoever. The austere, McDonald’s-hamburger-grey colored, blockish structures violently clashed with the surrounding Florida landscape. They look like industrial-age ball bearing factories or correctional institutions. The buildings near the “downtown” at least have the condo/Disney/prefab-pretty style going for them. But these - the design of which were demanded by Tom Monaghan – were simply eyesores. Their ugliness was not in the eyes of the beholder, yours truly, either. Nobody can call these buildings attractive after seeing them. See the video linked below.
Then it was time to visit the infamous oratory. The stone façades, in front and partially in the rear, showed that at least someone, somewhere, had made a meager attempt to give this future house of Our Lord at least some degree of a classical appearance. That, however, was the extent of anything remotely traditional about the structure. The rest of the exterior was encased in cold, foreboding (most likely Chinese) steel. The huge metallic “legs” protruding from each side gave the impression that this was some type of giant mechanical arthropod about to crawl off and chastise the population of Collier County. Some have remarked that it looks like a blimp hangar, but to me, it looked more like something that eats blimps as opposed to housing them.
The imposing metallurgy only got more intense as we toured the yet-to-be completed innards of Tom Monaghan’s behemoth. The immeasurable tons of structural steel beams festooning from above, were woven into webs of arched latticework that were designed to be visible when construction is complete – another Monaghan demand.
If it seems that my reporting on AMU’s big day is somewhat jaded, or that I’m somewhat disgruntled, I plead guilty as charged. As far as traditionalists and orthodox Catholics go, to call the venture a disappointment would be an understatement. Traditionalist/orthodox students and faculty have run screaming from the place, telling horror stories of their experiences at the university. The persecution of Father Fessio, the music director and the visiting FSSP priests comes to mind, as does the numerous reports of traditional students being threatened and/or silenced. Most disheartening of all, is the current liturgical environment. Banal guitar Masses and chaotic “healing” Masses are encouraged, while the Tridentine Mass, the Mass of all of our saints and forefathers, is still forbidden. In fact, in a letter expressing the university position on the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), Chaplain Robert Garrity made the baffling claim that the Mass given at AMU is the traditional Mass. In that letter, written to an on campus student group, he had the audacity to forbid the students from using the very term “traditional Mass” to describe the TLM. The letter, an Orwellian masterpiece, went on to read, “…to focus obsessively on fostering the Tridentine Mass at AMU bespeaks a gravely flawed ecclesiology which should be rooted out...” Wow.
The excuse given thus far for the traditional “cleansing” at AMU was that the previous bishop (Nivens) refused to permit the Mass. Such is no longer the case. In addition to a new bishop, who is friendly towards the Mass, we now have the Motu Proprio, straight from the desk of Holy Father himself. These two factors remove all restrictions and excuses, real or perceived, for Ave Maria University not to have a regular TLM. Father Lamb, AMU’s Professor of Theology, could give it tomorrow. It is our prayer, that the powers that be at AMU will adhere to the “spirit” of Summorum Pontificum, stop making excuses for suppressing the TLM, and make it a normal part of the liturgical life of the university and town that we were told was to be a beacon for traditional Catholics.
When that happens, the traditionalists and orthodox Catholics who walked away from the project can once again support it. Those who the VIPs at AMU have turned into adversaries can once again be friends. Instead of a hostile buzz on the Catholic “street,” there would be moral and possibly even financial support. All of the folly, missteps and mistakes could be written off as growing pains.
Until such a time, those behind this project are just too easy to make fun of.
You forgot to mention how they scrapped a beautiful Cathoilc Spanish style architecture done for free by Notre Dame students for Mr. Monaghan's napkin design that he made one night. In fact, the archtecture isn't really very much frank lloyd wright as it is Mr. Monaghan's napkin design. And you're right about the dorms and library, and other buildings, they are completely utilitarian, if you can even call them that, poorly designed interiorly, they look like warehouses. No Catholic influence whatsoeverin the architecture, being a former student, I know that most of the administration could care less either, and one priest on campus sincerely believes that its because most of them are converts and still retain a lot of Protestant ideals, that is why they have no mind to connect the Catholic life wit the culture, resulting in a sort of drug induced modern cultural identity not accountable with Catholicism, which is how most Catholics think today, so it reflects onto the university life.
You forgot to mention how they scrapped a beautiful Cathoilc Spanish style architecture done for free by Notre Dame students for Mr. Monaghan's napkin design that he made one night. In fact, the archtecture isn't really very much frank lloyd wright as it is Mr. Monaghan's napkin design. And you're right about the dorms and library, and other buildings, they are completely utilitarian, if you can even call them that, poorly designed interiorly, they look like warehouses. No Catholic influence whatsoeverin the architecture, being a former student, I know that most of the administration could care less either, and one priest on campus sincerely believes that its because most of them are converts and still retain a lot of Protestant ideals, that is why they have no mind to connect the Catholic life wit the culture, resulting in a sort of drug induced modern cultural identity not accountable with Catholicism, which is how most Catholics think today, so it reflects onto the university life.
The Baptist-founded, non-denominational University of Chicago is more Catholic, architecturally.
Plus, they even out-Wright Monaghan, as they own the Robie House.
Well, it's too late now for AMU to correct the exterior of these buildings, but let's hope and pray that they have the grace and wisdom to correct the interior, or what goes on inside of them.
Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Posts: 4928 Location: Heavenly places
Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 6:20 pm Post subject:
servitium wrote:
Well, it's too late now for AMU to correct the exterior of these buildings, but let's hope and pray that they have the grace and wisdom to correct the interior, or what goes on inside of them.
As a one-time employee of AMU, I went out to the unveiling also. Words cannot convey how ugly and out of place that oratory is. And all that steel inside, cluttering up any sense of vertical space that the height was supposed to convey (not to mention blocking any view of the rose window - brilliant!).
I am so glad I got out. IMO, that is going to be a soul-deadening place to live and worship.
And then there's the "Gyrenes" newsflash. Did I mention how glad I am that I got out?
Joined: 22 Jan 2007 Posts: 1487 Location: mississippi
Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 12:54 am Post subject:
Yuk that church looks like a giant cockroach. I hate cockroaches. Its in florida for crying out loud would it hurt Monaghan to build a Spanish style Church?
Joined: 01 Jun 2005 Posts: 4820 Location: Vatican City
Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 8:45 am Post subject: Re: AQ Report: Ave Maria Town Opens (exclusive video coverag
dailyrosary wrote:
GratiaPlena wrote:
At least the mini-burritos the Mexican restaurant were giving away were excellent!!
-GratiaPlena.
Please don't mention Mexican food; I'm stuck in New England with no hope in sight.
There is a Mexican resturant in Rhode Island that I hear is very good. I forgot the name, but it's located in Warwick next to Rhode Island Mall. _________________ http://www.thedivinemercy.org/library/
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