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Catholic university breaks ground

NAPLES - The nation's first Catholic university to be built in four decades took a step toward fruition Friday with the official groundbreaking on a sod farm.

Thomas S. Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza, has pledged more than $250-million to construct Ave Maria University and a surrounding town by the same name where planners expect to attract 20,000 residents.

"I think it's God's will to do this," he said at the groundbreaking ceremony, surrounded by fields of oranges, tomatoes, watermelons and squash in Florida's rural countryside. "Little did I know when I opened the first Domino's store to pay my way through architectural school it would eventually lead to the building of a Catholic university some 45 years later."

Construction is already under way on the town, and home sites are for sale. The school is set to open next year.

Officials say the institution, which isn't tied to any religious order or diocese, will offer an alternative to some more secular Catholic colleges and universities.

"There are a lot of Catholic universities that have lost their mission in the spread of the faith," said Gov. Jeb Bush, who spoke at the event. "This university is grounded in the Catholic doctrine."

Ave Maria opened its doors in 2004 on an interim campus in Naples, about 25 miles west. The school graduated its first class last year.

The university and town will be developed through a partnership with the Barron Collier Cos. The community will be set on 4,000 acres.

The project is not without its detractors. The Sierra Club objected to its being so close to the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and black bear habitat. And the Rev. Neil J. Roy, the former academic dean and now a professor at Ave Maria College in Michigan, filed a lawsuit in 2004 over the school's plan to move its campus to Florida. The suit was dismissed last year.

[Last modified February 18, 2006, 01:59:08]