resembles an "aging Elizabeth Taylor":
.
You be the judge.
Posted on 10/25/2011 8:08:31 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/ave-maria-receives-official-recognition-as-a-catholic-university#ixzz1bqGBmx4o
by TIM DRAKE 10/07/2011
From the Press Release:
Today, Most Rev. Frank J. Dewane, bishop of the Diocese of Venice in Florida, made perhaps the most significant announcement in the history of Ave Maria University. During the investiture ceremony for new Ave Maria University president H. James Towey, Bishop Dewane announced that he grants recognition of Ave Maria University as a Catholic university.
Bishop Dewane commented, “This announcement marks a special time in the history and faith life of Ave Maria University. While the university continues to grow, it is the deepening of its roots of faith that is of primary importance to me as the bishop of this diocese. The Catholic Church views Catholic universities in very high regard, and, with that, the entire Ave Maria University community should be encouraged and inspired by its new designation.”
Ave Maria president Jim Towey expressed appreciation and joy upon hearing the news: “I am grateful to Bishop Dewane for his confidence in our future and thankful for Tom Monaghan and all those who built the foundation that made this announcement possible. This recognition means a lot to us as we continue on the path toward new excellence.”
Bishop Dewane also took time out to congratulate President Towey as he enters into this new phase of leadership, which will move Ave Maria University into a bright future. The bishop also thanked Thomas S. Monaghan, founder of Ave Maria University, for his forthright commitment to Catholic education and his Catholic faith. His leadership and vision brought the monumental undertaking of building a Catholic university in southwest Florida to where it stands today.
The Code of Canon Law regulates the establishment and conduct of a Catholic university by the competent ecclesiastical authority, which in this case is Bishop Dewane. The recognition of Ave Maria University as a Catholic university is granted upon their commitment to continue to be guided by the teachings of the Catholic Church and faithfulness to the apostolic constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae. First and foremost, it is the responsibility of the local bishop to provide pastoral care to the university community, as stated in Ex Corde Ecclesiae.
Bishop Dewane has served as an ex officio member of the Ave Maria University board of trustees since 2009. Ave Maria University was founded in 2003. The quasi-parish of Ave Maria Oratory was established in 2008.
Jim Towey, President of Ave Maria University ... Excerpt from prepared text of his inaugural address given on Friday.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2011/oct/08/jim-towey-president-ave-maria-university-excerpt-p/
Editor’s note: Jim Towey has been inducted as the new president of Ave Maria University. Here is an excerpt from the prepared text of his inaugural address given on Friday.
I believe that Ave Maria University can play a pivotal role in reforming Catholic higher education and American culture. The need has never been greater.
Too often students leave high school and arrive at college and find the values their parents instilled in them under constant attack. They are encouraged to believe that hooking up is better than getting hitched. They are urged to live recklessly, to the point where binge drinking has nearly become a rite of passage for freshmen.
The prevalent secular ideology on American campuses, including many faith-based ones, seems to assert that absolute moral truth does not exist, and that faith and reason are enemies.
The Church disagrees. Six weeks ago in Madrid at World Youth Day, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI met with a group of young university professors. He himself had been one in Bonn and to this day has not lost his love of the academy.
The Pope said to the group, “Always remember that teaching is not just about communicating content, but about forming young people. You need to understand and love them, to awaken their innate thirst for truth and their yearning for transcendence.”
I would like to touch upon what I believe the three hallmarks of Ave Maria University must be as it accomplishes this task.
First, academic excellence in the liberal arts tradition. Pope Benedict rightly decried in his Madrid address an approach to education that simply prepares students to satisfy society’s demand for labor without leading them in the pursuit of truth. He said, “The Gospel message perceives a rationality inherent in creation and considers man as a creature participating in, and capable of attaining to, an understanding of this rationality.”
He continued, “The University thus embodies an ideal which must not be attenuated or compromised, whether by ideologies closed to reasoned dialogue or by truckling to a purely utilitarian and economic conception which would view man solely as a consumer.”
As we ponder the Pope’s words, we must be careful in how we apply them. His warning does not mean that Ave Maria should ignore the development of professional and pre-professional programs; indeed our mission statement requires us to.
But it does mean that our students must become critical thinkers, competent writers, and perpetual students of life. Of course, we hope that their studies in theology and philosophy, the lungs of any true Catholic university, will breathe life into their vocations.
It is our desire that each and every graduate leaves this campus as a responsible adult and better human being. The Catholic, liberal arts education we offer at Ave Maria University must be transformative.
The second distinctive trait of Ave Maria must be that we are firmly rooted in our Catholic faith while remaining fully open to the world. I say this because we are called to engage the culture, not flee it, or our convictions.
Students should not be sheltered from society and the so-called “real world” that awaits their full participation. When an Ave Maria student graduates, he or she should be able to thrive in the midst of people who do not pray like them, think like them, vote like them or worship like them. That is why during my tenure we will look to expand study abroad, service learning, campus ministry initiatives and student internships. The more outside engagement, the better.
The freedom students experience away from home should lead to the formation of virtue and a deepening of faith, as befits their God-given dignity. Such things cannot be coerced but should be encouraged, and I pledge myself to that task. I believe we can foster the responsible exercise of freedom and promote open debate, without abandoning our convictions, provided that we remain rooted in our Catholic faith and open to the world.
The third hallmark of Ave Maria University must be our unity. In Calcutta, Mother Teresa’s tomb has the simple inscription from the Gospel of John: “Love one another as I have loved you.” St. Paul warns that we can move mountains and work wonders but if we have not love, then we have gained nothing.
Twenty-one years ago, the apostolic constitution governing Catholic universities was issued, Ex Corde Ecclesiae, that is, “From the Heart of the Church.” It recognized the importance of having an authentic human community grounded in “a common dedication to truth, a common vision of the dignity of the human person and, ultimately, the person and message of Christ which gives the Institution its distinctive character.”
The document goes on to call for mutual respect, sincere dialogue, and protection of the rights of individuals. My friends, those characteristics of a Catholic university serve as a “sign of contradiction” within academia.
And from its founding, Ave Maria University has held itself to a higher standard – to be a light to academia by the example of our unity and our love for one another, even in the midst of reasonable disagreement. It would be hypocritical for us to present ourselves as an authentically Catholic institution if our relationships with one another are not rooted in Christ.
Imagine a campus free of the defects of pettiness, jealousy, intellectual bullying, and spiritual arrogance. Such an environment in our faculty lounges, administrative offices, classrooms, and residence halls would place Ave Maria University at the forefront of the new evangelization. Unity and intellectual charity will be the bond that perfects our scholarship and allows the “splendor of the truth” to shine.
I send donations to Wyoming Catholic College, because I think their frontier spirit is really cool. I don’t know if any of my Offspring would ever consider it, but it should be there for those who are the right people. (Maybe James, who seems to have no standards for personal comfort when there’s outdoorsiness to be done ... but he’s only 7.)
Neither are exclusive in any way; they are affordable and will accept just about any qualified applicant.
By the meaning you are using for “exclusive,” that wouldn’t apply to Boston College, Georgetown, or Notre Dame, referenced in the original post using the term. They do not have moral standards or expectations for students.
Maybe that post just meant “academically selective.”
Well, their qualifications had better be pretty high - judging by the grads I’ve met and they most certainly are exclusive when you consider how small they are. They’re so small they have to be exclusive. They literally can’t be very open because they DON’T HAVE THE ROOM to be anythimng else.
TAC has 359 students. Sounds exclusive to me.
CC has 389 undergrads. Sounds exclusive to me.
This Marielena Stuart (who claims to be a journalist) has gotten caught and spanked for writing false stories about Ave Maria in the recent past:
http://www.aveherald.com/news/572-the-wanderer-retracts-qfalse-statementsq-about-ave-maria.html
The Wanderer Retracts “False Statements” About Ave Maria
Saturday, 24 April 2010 12:46
The editor of The Wanderer has publicly retracted “false statements” that were published in the weekly newspaper about the town of Ave Maria and Ave Maria University.
In a statement titled “Retraction and Correction,” published in the April 29 edition of The Wanderer, Editor Alphonse J. Matt Jr. apologized for six different errors in fact that appeared in stories published in August, 2009, and January, 2010. Both stories were written by Ave Maria town resident Marielena Montesino de Stuart.
Mr. Matt said his retraction was “in accord with The Wanderer’s policy to offer a prompt apology and retraction for any factual inaccuracies published in The Wanderer.” He said that the errors were detailed in a letter from lawyers representing Ave Maria University.
Three of the statements were in a January, 2010, article that claimed abortions could be permissible in the town of Ave Maria despite statements to the contrary by the town’s developers. Mr. Matt acknowledge that covenants in the town of Ave Maria do prohibit abortion and that “we retract and apologize for” statements that suggested otherwise.
The other false statements, Mr. Matt said, were in an August, 2009, article by Mrs. Montesino de Stuart in which she said the “university aggressively recruits non-Catholics and/or seculat students” which the university’s lawyers called “100% false.”
Ave Maria University officials had no immediate comment on The Wanderer’s retraction.
The full text of The Wanderer retraction is available on the web only to subscribers of the publication.
Last Updated on Saturday, 24 April 2010 17:54
The Wanderer henceforth stopped publishing any tripe written by that woman.
I was thinking more of campus life, segregated dorms, dress code, students must refer to each other as Mr and Ms.in class, dry campus, no sports, academic expulsion for a week of unexcused absences in any one course. It appeals to a small segment and excludes many, because they don’t want to abide by such discipline.
That’s not to knock those who don’t go, I don’t really want my daughters to go there. Although not due to most rules.
I wouldn't know. The author gave no citation (that I recall) concerning it.
resembles an "aging Elizabeth Taylor":
.
You be the judge.
Well! Please Make sure you do not over salt your own eyes? Because we would not be Freepers without THE Alex Murphy.
Freedom of expression on Free Republic. I truly believe in free conservative expression.
Did you ever think of finding missing Children on the web. You find things I never could find myself. How you find these articles are beyond me. Freeper Regards!
Fun indeed! I can't remember the last time I encountered this much melodrama in the first paragraph of an article (Could the author still be in high school? One wonders.):
Marielena Stuart stood in the middle of a quiet street, 120 miles across the swamp from Miami, and stared down the black plastic barrel of a news camera. Behind her loomed a monstrous church, its 100-foot orange-brick façade shimmering like scales in the nighttime spotlights. Stuart glanced up at its one round window — a Cyclops's unblinking eye gazing out over the strange, tiny town of Ave Maria — and shuddered.
The only thing missing was the opening, "It was a dark and stormy night ... " I guess this is the liberal version of "hard-hitting journalism."
Christendom College is an excellent institution; they work their students hard, teach what’s really important and get great results. But the reason their classes are so small isn’t because they’re exclusive; it’s because they have a very niche market, and they’re struggling to fill their spots. They want a student body of 450, but can’t get there yet.
As for “TAC”.... WHOOPS! I thought you meant Thomas Aquinas College of Liberal Arts, in Merrimack, NH... I see you meant Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, CA. TAC-LA is in very dire straits, having had to scrap all majors ecause they could only afford afaculty for general education... but for all I know, that ould have been very successful.
I think you mean Thomas MORE College of Liberal Arts in NH rather than Thomas Aquinas in NH, right?
Bishop Dewane commented, “This announcement marks a special time in the history and faith life of Ave Maria University. While the university continues to grow, it is the deepening of its roots of faith that is of primary importance to me as the bishop of this diocese. The Catholic Church views Catholic universities in very high regard, and, with that, the entire Ave Maria University community should be encouraged and inspired by its new designation.”
Well, that's certainly good news for the university.
Some people like salt. Others have a talent for logging.
Facts:
The prior bishop approved all that the university had planned. The church building is the university chapel and it nmakes sense that the university would assign one of the priests on staff to be the chaplain. The new bishop realized that the people in town who were not part of the university also needed a parish, so he stepped in and reversed the former bishop’s approval.
The church was ready to be used in October 2007, and it opened as the parish church in March 2008, after the new bishop worked out the details with the university. Stuart hates the parish because Mass is normally in English, and becuase women are allowed to wear pants and don’t wear chapel veils, and because evening Mass for students often includes praise and worship music with guitars.
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