March 1, 2006
NAPLES -- If Domino's Pizza founder Thomas Monaghan has his way, a town being built in a quiet corner of southwest Florida will be governed by strict Catholic principles, particularly when it comes to sex.
The pizza magnate is bankrolling the town called Ave Maria with millions of dollars, calling its construction "God's will." Stores won't sell pornographic magazines, pharmacies won't carry condoms or birth-control pills, and cable television will carry no X-rated channels, he said in a speech last year to the first Boston Catholic Men's Conference.
Civil libertarians say the plan is unconstitutional and promise lawsuits.
The town is being constructed around Ave Maria University, the first Catholic university to be built in the United States in four decades, which Monaghan also founded. Both are set to open next year about 25 miles east of Naples.
The community, developed through a partnership with Barron Collier Co., an agricultural and real-estate firm, will be set on 5,000 acres with a European-inspired town center. It will encircle a massive church and what planners call the largest crucifix in the nation, nearly 65 feet tall.
Robert Falls, a spokesman for the project, said attorneys are still reviewing the legal issues. He said Monaghan would not comment until the issue is resolved.
"If they attempt to do what he apparently wants to do, the people of Naples and Collier County, Florida, are in for a whole series of legal and constitutional problems and a lot of litigation indefinitely into the future," said Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.
While Simon notes there are religiously homogenous communities across the country, from Hasidic Jews to Mormons, none can "wield governmental power along the lines of religious principle."
Monaghan and Barron Collier will control all commercial real estate in the town and could include provisions in leases that restrict the sale of certain items.
Unlike some states, Florida pharmacies don't have to provide contraceptives.
"The law doesn't say exactly what a pharmacy has to stock or sell," said Thometta Cozart, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health.
Naples Community Hospital, which plans to open a clinic in the town, will not prescribe any birth control to students. The hospital has not decided whether it will prescribe to the public.
"I believe all of history is just one big battle between good and evil. I don't want to be on the sidelines," Monaghan said in a Newsweek interview.
Simon points to a 1946 Supreme Court opinion that "ownership does not always mean absolute dominion."
Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist said it will be up to the courts to decide the legalities of the plan.
"The community has the right to provide a wholesome environment," Crist said Tuesday. "If someone disagrees, they have the right to go to court and present facts before a judge."