I don’t think the ACLU should do anything, but that said, I don’t think this is a good idea. I went to a very strict Southern Baptist College, and half the kids were even more wild off-campus then any other kids I met when I went to a community college. On-campus they were totally “perfect Baptists”. The other half were so innocent, they had a really hard time dealing with any kind of secular issues.
That said, if they are willing to try this, more power to them, I just don’t think it will work in practice, but it’s a good theory.
Ping to read later
All other towns are wounded.
I think this is a bad idea.
What happens if you order a pizza from a place that’s not Domino’s?
Based on observation, I would say few things like this last. But it can be wonderful while it lasts, although it usually ends with major disputes (I say this as a veteran of lay communities). Part of the problem is that there is no model for this and therefore nobody really knows how to go about it; they’re not a religious order, but what are they?
This is not the first community like this in Florida. Less than 100 miles north of Ave Maria is the town of San Antonio, founded in the 19th century as a Catholic community for families, with a monastery as its center and all the education handled by an order of sisters. The monastery, St. Leo’s (Benedictine), is still there; they are associated with St. Leo’s University, the on-line studies institution, although the monastery itself still continues to raise oranges and provide retreats. They have a lovely church that they are restoring.
THe lay community broke up before the middle of the 20th century and while the sisters stayed and continued to run a school, they got flaky after VatII and are now basically a retirement center for the few elderly sisters who managed to hang on. I believe there’s still a girl’s boarding school there, or perhaps a small college, but it’s no longer staffed by the nuns.
I’m expecting some “gay activists” to buy one of the homes and then start flinging lawsuits in the direction of every person and institution in the town that won’t recognize their perverted coupling as a “family.”
I wonder how long this ‘Catholic town’ can stay ‘pure’. Weren’t some current big cities and universities established with similar thoughts at the beginning?
What a dream place to live — other than the hurricanses. (But the would have had that in Tampa, too)
I think it is a wonderful idea; however, the ACLU and the gay thugs will do their best to bury it in lawsuits.
The reason the secular state allows the Amish to operate is because the Amish live in austerity and do not proselytize. The Catholics, on the other hand, attract hatred like a lightning rod because Catholicism is a viable, healthy alternative to modern ills.
It is not bad for the youngsters. The conditions they will grow under, if the state allows it at all, will be conditions of normalcy, not insularity.
I wish them the best.
Are they going to open a trailer park or an apartment complex for large, Catholic families who can’t afford $400,000 houses ... or is this just going to be a rich folks’ thing?
Even if the ACLU leaves it alone, it probably won’t last beyond a few generations. Even when they’re properly brought up, a percentage of children grow up to reject the beliefs & values of their parents.
This is a bit more organized and planned than usual, but I see it simply as an example and extension of what decent folks do: Create and maintain decent societies and institutions for their families and neighbors.
I very much of “wait and see” approach to this, but I think it’s a worthwile experiment. Remember, only 500 years ago town, villege, and city in western Europe was Catholic. Too bad their church is kind of strange and homely though.
-let’s move!
Sounds like my kind of place. Except the state location ...