Towey, Monaghan address Ave Maria University supporters

Published: 2003-12-17

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- More than 120 people gathered in Washington Dec. 12 to show their support for the first new Catholic university to be built in 40 years. The newly established Greater Washington, D.C. Ave Maria Founders Club heard talks by Jim Towey, deputy assistant to President Bush and director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, and Thomas S. Monaghan, Domino's Pizza founder, former owner of the Detroit Tigers and chairman of Ave Maria University in Naples, Fla. Towey said he hoped the new university, whose permanent campus is scheduled to open to students in the fall of 2006, would "be a major focus of renewal within the Catholic Church and in the lives of thousands of young people." Ave Maria began offering classes at an interim campus at the Vineyards of Naples earlier this fall. The interim campus will be expanded to accommodate 450 students over the next two years.

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