First the great news. On January 14, the last block of Carrara marble — from the same vein from which Michelangelo carved David — was lifted into place by huge cranes (cost: $300 per hour, over three weeks of herculean overtime work) onto the façade of the Oratory at Ave Maria University in Florida.
Only a little more often than once per century are high-relief marble sculptures hoisted onto the façades of large-scale cathedrals and oratories. The last such façade installed in the United States was Frederick Hart’s magnificent Ex Nihilo at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Ave Maria’s new marble — the archangel Gabriel announcing the forming of Jesus in embryo in Mary’s womb — now takes its place with Hart’s as one of the most arresting and beautiful in the New World. Its lines are as clear and simple as the lovely face of the 16-year-old Mary. Its quiet majesty induces awe. It forces onlookers to linger over that moment in history when God became Man, in the flesh of the Blessed Virgin.
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Throughout the long centuries of Christian history, the Annunciation has been the most often carved and painted scene from the Bible. Everything else in Christian history follows from it. Here it is that God first takes flesh in man, by an act of humble obedience on Mary’s part. His time in Mary’s womb is proof that Jesus Christ is man, just as his love, miracles, death, and resurrection prove that he is God. Thus it is that whenever the Creed is recited at Mass, all heads are bowed at the line: “By the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.”
Trumpets! Jubilation! That is the mood I felt on watching the last few large blocks of heavy marble being lifted into place on the gothic archway, as the light of the fading sunset reddened the pure white stone, and bystanders and workers cheered in relief after days and days of suspense. The total weight of the marble exceeds 60 tons. One mistake, one sagging line, and the whole project might have been ruined for a long time.
Thus does Ave Maria continue its strides toward becoming the center of sculpture, sacred music, painting, prints, and other arts in southwest Florida. Coming next: Verdi’s lovely Requiem, recently performed before Pope Benedict in Rome, will soon be performed by the Naples Opera Company at Ave Maria University’s new Golisano Field House (with far more seating than the Oratory).
Now for the high praise. It came from a recent issue of First Things reporting on Catholic higher education in America. This fresh survey ranked young Ave Maria as third among all Catholic schools in academic quality, behind only Notre Dame and Georgetown. More centrally than that, First Things ranked Ave Maria first in Catholic character and culture. On that count, Georgetown ranked among the last, and Notre Dame received a mixed review. First Things quoted one Ave Maria student who said (properly, in my observation) that some students there, upon entering, are not Catholic, or not very seriously so; but by the end of four years, virtually every student has become more religious.
Almost at the same time, in surveying all the colleges and universities of the United States that are found in rural environments, Newsweek placed Ave Maria 16th, in the company of such luminaries as Dartmouth, Amherst, Williams, St. Olaf, Colgate, Carleton, and Bucknell.
Great article on Ave Maria. As one who used to work in the Naples area, I agree that Ave Maria will be a great addition to Collier County, Florida. (Collier County is the county where Naples, Florida is located for those who are unfamiliar with the area). My only criticism of our article involves Jackson Labs.
The controversy with Jackson Labs was not the ethicial issues, but rather the Collier county commission proposal to raise taxes on the taxpayers in order to subsidize their move. That was the major controversy. Had the county not proposed to raise taxes, this would not have been an issue. If you are familiar with the area, you would know that Collier county and the Naples area is conservative. Any conservative could not in good conscience support the commission's idea to raise taxes to subsidize one business, while the county is facing a deficit after years of bad management. The taxpayers have been taxed enough at the local level.
I agree, that was a great article, and as a resident of Collier County - I would concur that the University is a great addition to Southwest Florida.
I also completely agree with Mr. Novak on the loss of Jackson Labs. While this issue, was certainly about taxes - and public subsidies - and the legitimate concerns over such government largess with our tax dollars - I believe an excellent case had been made that the subsidy would result in a greater benefit to taxpayers.
I find it a bit disingenuous to raise the taxpayer subsidy alarms - when almost every inch of the western side of the County has in fact been built out and subsidized by the taxpayers already.
Back to Ave Maria - it is great news - and of course, Mr. Novak is no less a treasure to the community than Mr. Varos Annunciation sculpture.
While I have the greatest respect for Waldstein, the ethical issues raised by the Jackson Labs situation were still unsettling.
The question about the morality of material cooperation with the evil of human embryonic stem cell research done by the company, even if in other venues, as well as contraceptive research, remains.
The dialogue argument is a rather weak one. What if Planned Parenthood set up an office there, even if they were only doing clerical work and no "procedures"?
I'm very happy that the Jackson Labs idea fell through.
Assuming the article was right about ethics being the driving issue - just for a thought experiment - it illustrates how unlikely that stalemate between church and technology is ever to be resolved, in spite of such thinkers as Michael Waldstein. It seems that the most optimal outcome would be for Jackson Labs to self-voluntarily guide itself by Catholic ethics, which would be the case if the breach was already healed. But JL is predictably comfortable with technology because it is not so restricted by such ethical concerns, perhaps because they are utilitarians which would work well with technology and in a democracy they are free to move to avoid conflicts with Catholic views. So again this dialogue never occurs "in nature" as it were.
