Who knew that the path to heaven was through Domino's?

Apparently Tom Monaghan did. The founder of the world-famous pizza chain, Mr. Monaghan is also a devout Roman Catholic who in 1998 sold his world-famous business for $1 billion dollars in order to further commit himself to "God's Will." Over the years, Mr. Monaghan has invested serious amounts of his own money into many failed religious-based projects. His most recent undertaking, however, is showing signs of promise.

Mr. Monaghan has bankrolled upwards of $400 million to build the first Catholically-inspired town in America, in Naples, Florida. The town will be constructed around a Catholic university, the first to be built in the United Sates in 40 years. Both will bear the name of the hallowed Catholic prayer, Ave Maria.

Mr. Monaghan has promised that the stores in Ave Maria will not carry condoms, birth control or pornographic magazines. The televisions will not provide X-rated channels and in the center of the town will stand the nation's largest crucifix, at 65 feet.

Mr. Monaghan has said that he is merely attempting to get people into heaven. Some are calling him the "Pizza Pope." It is clear that Mr. Monaghan the Expert Businessman has once again tapped into the American people's demands.

What is not clear, or rather, what is troubling, is whether Mr. Monaghan the Catholic really believes that king-sized crucifixes and playground proselytizing will do anything to contribute to a revitalization of Catholicism.

In a speech to a men's organization in Boston, Mr. Monaghan prophesied that the students of Ave Maria University are the key to our country's future. A traditional, like-minded community like his, he said, is a necessary return to the values upon which the country was founded.

It is impossible not to wonder whether his boastful oratory is anything but the clever salesman preaching to the confirmation-hungry consumer. It is true that the project has roused considerable interest; so did the movie Freedomland. Mr. Monaghan's puritan Disneyland seems nothing so much as the result of a focus group, a logical extension of the self-centered niches that Americans choose to live in.

Mr. Monaghan and his partner, Barron Collier Co., an agricultural and real estate business, will control all the commercial property in the town. Mr. Monaghan claims that the town's Catholic inspirations are merely suggestions, that all are welcome and all are free, but the tentacles of his power betray his rhetoric. Naturally, the ACLU has been up in arms over the potential threat that Ave Maria poses to its future resident's constitutional rights.

The legality of the planned community remains unavoidably ambiguous. Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU, warned that the town is in for a long string of litigation. The Florida Attorney General, an appointee of Gov. Jeb Bush and supporter of the project, told CNN that if "someone disagrees with the wholesome environment … they have the right to go to court."

The debate, like so much of the tit-for-tat that passes for political dialogue, ignores the fact that responsible, American adults will have chosen to live in the community and attend the university. Mr. Monaghan does not seem to trust his Catholic brethren to resist the temptation of pornography and premarital sex on the strength of faith alone. Similarly, the ACLU seems to view the hypothetical residents of Ave Maria as pawns, unable to choose or speak for themselves. And yet, shameless though their posturing may be, both sides can be understood, if not forgiven. They're doing their jobs.

Whether it comes to fruition or not, it is sad that so much money will be wasted on Mr. Monaghan's utopia. It is even sadder because there exist working American Catholics like Cardinal Roger Mahoney of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. In response to the Congressional bill H.R. 4437, which would make it illegal to offer support to illegal immigrants, Cardinal Mahoney has called on his parishioners to devote the 40 days of Lent to fasting and prayer for the reform of the inhumane immigration laws.

If Congress does indeed pass the bill, the Cardinal will instruct his priests — and faithful laymen, too — to defy the law. Those who desire to "get into heaven" would do better to join this Catholic's worldwide community.

Josh Cohen ([email protected]) is a freshman majoring in philosophy.