Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, well known for his financial support of Randall Terry’s Operation Rescue, is in the news again.
The spotlight this time is not for Monaghan’s contributions to political campaigns nor even for his founding of Legatus, an organization of Catholic business executives, which (as Jeff Huber and Jerry Soucy tell us in their ePluribus Media article Tom Monaghan’s Pizza Pilgrimage) is:
Described by critics as “An elite group of Catholic millionaires” that backs an authoritarian cult called “The Word of God.” According to a 1991 article in Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s The Tech, The Word of God “appoints `shepherds’ to control large aspects of its members’ lives, such as who they marry and where they live,” and preaches “that women are `the handmaidens of men.'”
No, the current media focus on Pizza Tiger Monaghan targets his plans to build a new city in Florida and
run the town of Ave Maria according to strict Roman Catholic principles. Monaghan and his development partner, Paul Marinelli of the Barron Collier Company, intend to control all of the town’s commercial real estate.
Though it is newsworthy that Civil libertarians are threatening to sue the Domino’s Pizza founder, there are other reasons to understand Monaghan’s reach.
In their article, Huber and Soucy summarize Monaghan’s rags to riches rise to become one of America’s most influential men on the religious right.
At the same time, they detail Monaghan’s new Roman Empire with its various holdings, from university, to radio, to softPAC political action committees to Mutual fund companies:
- Legatus
- Ave Maria Radio
- Ave Maria University
- Ava Maria School of Law
- Thomas More Law Center
- Ava Maria List, a 527 soft-money issue advocacy and associated PAC
- Ave Maria Mutual Funds
As the campaign season heats up, Huber’s and Soucy’s Tom Monaghan’s Pizza Pilgrimage gives us all the background we will need to keep an eye out for Monaghan’s name as a mover behind more than just a town in Florida.
Contributors to the investigation and research resulting in the ePluribus Media article include: Avahome, Sawcielackey, Luaptifer, Mkt, kfred, Jill Lehnert, wanderindiana, susie dow, Biblio, ricardo04, dksbook, standingup, roxy317, Sue in KY, DEFuning, silence, stoy and BeverlyinNH
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