A Catholics-Only Community?

Ave Maria Under ConstructionThe town of Ave Maria, Florida, isn’t just any old town. It’s a vision-turned-reality for Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, whose lifelong dream was to create a community of residents who share his Catholic values. The town comes with its own Catholic church and university, while adult book stores, strip clubs, and even pharmacies that dispense birth control are strongly discouraged, of course.

Ave Maria is open to everyone, but does anyone else see how difficult it would be for an atheist, Muslim, Jew–anyone who’s NOT a Catholic, for that matter–to actually live there? Why can’t they just be honest and say that this is a Catholics-only community? To be honest, I’m not entirely opposed to it, as many Humanists have been in favor of creating Humanist living communities for years, but I fail to see the value in shunning diversity by restricting oneself to Catholic-only neighbors.

And what would a classified ad for housing in Ave Maria look like?

Spacious 3 bedroom/2 bath in quaint Florida town. Walking distance to church. Five minutes to public transportation, shops, and restaurants. Serious inquiries from Catholics only; others need not apply.

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