What's The Deal With Ave Maria?

[The Bus Station]

I just applied to AMU and now I'm finding all this stuff on the Internet about how sketchy the town and the school are, not to mention the founder, Tom Monaghan. Anyone ever been to [url="http://avewatch.com"]AveWatch.com[/url]?

I've always heard that the school and town are magnets for controversy, but I've never looked into it until today... I know there are some AMU students on here, right? Is this anything to worry about if I end up enrolling at AMU?

[pat22]

my sister just left for amu today she has to leave early for ra training.

i dont know about anything that should raise an eyebrow.
the pros are:

the dorm rules are very strict, the boys and grls have seperate buildings and are not allowed to go into each others rooms. period.

the teachers are very conservative and traditional.

the enviroment is awsome. i visited, and they had their own catholic town. shops, huge church, lots of land, tenis and bastetball courts, all nine yards. its unlike anything.

plus they have a championship rugby team

[Resurrexi]

The church there looks like a spaceship.

[CatherineM]

Some of the controversy comes from the planned community development that has been stalled by the overall collapse of real estate in Florida.

[loveletslive]

[quote name='pat22' post='1948986' date='Aug 14 2009, 04:42 PM']the pros are:

the dorm rules are very strict, the boys and grls have seperate buildings and are not allowed to go into each others rooms. period.[/quote]

that's a pro? lol i live on a co-ed floor at college. i can't imagine having rules that like. it's like your 5 years old.

i think the concept of an all Catholic town is kind of creepy. you'd be living in a Catholic bubble, that's not the real world. how can you evangelize? how can you learn to deal with people who hold views on politics and religion that are at the extreme opposite of yours?

...plus their church is ugly as sin. for ave maria being all rad trad and orthodox i was expecting a high altar and EF masses or something.

Edited August 15, 2009 by loveletslive

[pat22]

[quote name='Resurrexi' post='1948988' date='Aug 14 2009, 05:44 PM']The church there looks like a spaceship.

[/quote]
thats the first this my mom said

[Lilllabettt]

what makes me hesitate about AMU is it is not fully accredited yet. They have accreditation from the American Academy of Liberal Education, but that is in some ways an iffy organization. The feds were at one point threatening to pull their credentials.

[missionseeker]

First: DO NOT PAY ATTENTION TO AVE WATCH! THEY ARE CRAZY!

[quote name='loveletslive' post='1949096' date='Aug 14 2009, 07:00 PM']that's a pro? lol i live on a co-ed floor at college. i can't imagine having rules that like. it's like your 5 years old.

i think the concept of an all Catholic town is kind of creepy. you'd be living in a Catholic bubble, that's not the real world. how can you evangelize? how can you learn to deal with people who hold views on politics and religion that are at the extreme opposite of yours?

...plus their church is ugly as sin. for ave maria being all rad trad and orthodox i was expecting a high altar and EF masses or something.[/quote]

At Southern Catholic, males aren't even allowed in female dorms. I like it better that way...

Any who:

Ave is a great place. To study. The town part makes me a little... eh. Not necessarily because of the bublle idea, but because of something else that I yet to put my finger on. Tbh, a lot of the townspeople are older retired couples. But the ones with children are... idk. The twon though, is completely different from the school. Most of them are nice, but idk.. a little removed from reality?

Idk what I think about Monaghan. I'm pretty sure I'm not a fan. THOUGH if the truth be told. Can't say I was a fan of Clements either.

The major difference between SCC and AMU is that... SCC is way more conservative/traditional in the liturgies (at least they were when Fr. Higgins was pastor, I have no idea how it will be now. Fr. Higgins let a P&W band play at an adoration during which there were confessions. He never let them play again. Also, Anthony- the guy in charge of the music for the college's four years has graduated) STILL- the thing I miss most is the chapel. There is something about being able to go to the chapel at any time (even though the school insisted that the chapel be set to lock at 2 a.m. Father ALWAYS left the back door opened so that we could get in. ) and yes, we have chapels in the dorms there, but something was just not the same at all. Maybe I just learned to love that chapel idk. But I still miss the pool gazeebo made chapel building. we used to have adoration a couple hours a couple days a week. (at AMU) Unfortunately, most of them were ADORE! ones. Idk... the spiritual life is a lot different there. And I really miss SCC's

That said, AMU's isn't bad. It couldbe better. AND it could be wayyyyyy better reflected in the beautification of the church. (I sometimes think: how do you try for something beautiful and miss by soooooooooooooooooo much!?) BUT when there are beautiful Masses THERE ARE BEAUTIFUL MASSES! oy! I love chamber choir masses (not because I am in the chamber choir ) but i love the 12:30 men's schola Masses more. Oh they sooo gorgeous, you have no idea!

I don't know much about Father Tatman but I love him for this reason: he saw that there was a desire in his parish for the EF mass; he studied to be able to say it; and now, even though he cannot sing at ALL he does almost every Sunday for the High Mass. It shows an incredible love for his flock and I love that about him.

But anyway, you kind of have to hunt for either middle ground (N.O. w/out P&W) and for "radtrad" stuff. go figure...

The acreditation thing is not that big of an issue actually. Those who chose to continue their educations generally get into grad school with no problem (one of our sacred music majors got into WESTMINSTER COLLEGE CHOIR! They get federal monies, so that makes it a little more affordable. ([color="#FF0000"][size=6]BUS STATION TELL THEM YOU WERE GOING TO GO TO SOUTHERN CATHOLIC AND DECIDED IT WASN'T FOR YOU! THEY WANT ALL THE SCC PEOPLE THEY CAN WRANGLE AWAY FROM THERE. IT'S A WAY TO GET MORE DOUGH! [/size][/color]

In Ave, not having a car (which if you are a freshman, you won't) is NOT an issue (like at SCC) because everything is right there. Don't use the bookstore. Tropical Smoothie rocks! Phong and his brother give me free food, too, which makes it even better. They make fun of my mango smoothie addiction (which if you come to Ave, you have to let me buy you one- that's just how it works. I (or one of my friends who also has an addicition now...) treat people for their first one. I can't tell you how many people I've bought one for (who in turn have bought one for other people. ) but the first one is on us. There is horseback riding, tennis, golf, basketball, soccer, rugby, and volleyball.

I guess all in all it's not bad. A little quirky. But not any more quirky than SCC.


[quote name='Lilllabettt' post='1949323' date='Aug 14 2009, 10:56 PM']what makes me hesitate about AMU is it is not fully accredited yet. They have accreditation from the American Academy of Liberal Education, but that is in some ways an iffy organization. The feds were at one point threatening to pull their credentials.[/quote]

[The Bus Station]

Thank you for the very informative post missionseeker.

Question: when you say "more dough," you mean for me, or the school?

Another question: do you know much about the Philosophy, Theology or Literature curriculum?

kthxbye

ps. Rexi, I agree -- the church does look like a spaceship. Edited August 15, 2009 by The Bus Station

[Luthien]

[quote name='loveletslive' post='1949096' date='Aug 14 2009, 10:00 PM']that's a pro? lol i live on a co-ed floor at college. i can't imagine having rules that like. it's like your 5 years old.[/quote]

I think people who have to deal with their roommates having sex with their boyfriends in the bed beside them would beg to differ...just sayin'.

[VeniteAdoremus]

[quote name='Luthien' post='1949705' date='Aug 15 2009, 10:34 PM']I think people who have to deal with their roommates having sex with their boyfriends in the bed beside them would beg to differ...just sayin'.[/quote]

Yes. Oh, yes.

Although nowadays I'm almost nostalgic for those nights me and flatmates 2 & 3 spent watching silly Youtube movies on 3's bed - her room didn't share a [s]piece of cardboard[/s] wall with flatmate 4.

It was worth it I guess, 4's baby is [i]really[/i] cute.

[Hassan]

[quote name='VeniteAdoremus' post='1949729' date='Aug 15 2009, 04:22 PM']It was worth it I guess, 4's baby is [i]really[/i] cute.[/quote]

[Guest KevinSymonds]

Study what happened to Fr. Fessio.

You'll get a lot of answers if you do.

[pat22]

[quote name='loveletslive' post='1949096' date='Aug 14 2009, 08:00 PM']that's a pro? lol i live on a co-ed floor at college. i can't imagine having rules that like. it's like your 5 years old.

i think the concept of an all Catholic town is kind of creepy. you'd be living in a Catholic bubble, that's not the real world. how can you evangelize? how can you learn to deal with people who hold views on politics and religion that are at the extreme opposite of yours?

...plus their church is ugly as sin. for ave maria being all rad trad and orthodox i was expecting a high altar and EF masses or something.[/quote]
i would think or at least hope that anyone who would srsly consider going to ave would think its a pro

[quote name='Lilllabettt' post='1949323' date='Aug 14 2009, 11:56 PM']what makes me hesitate about AMU is it is not fully accredited yet. They have accreditation from the American Academy of Liberal Education, but that is in some ways an iffy organization. The feds were at one point threatening to pull their credentials.[/quote]
my sis says they were just recently accredited i dunno.

[quote name='Luthien' post='1949705' date='Aug 15 2009, 03:34 PM']I think people who have to deal with their roommates having sex with their boyfriends in the bed beside them would beg to differ...just sayin'.[/quote]
i know this is a srs problem with catholic colleges lately.
if fact i heard recently that a grl's roommate was doing it with a boy she brought in totally ignoring the fact she had a roommate in there. the roommate went to the board with it and they said that their students were "old enough to make their own decisions".
another girl posted that late at night her roommate would bring boyz in when she thought everyone was asleep. (this is from a catholic college in Virginia)
and im not five (loveletslive)
just tryin to defend myself

Edited August 15, 2009 by pat22

[missionseeker]

[quote name='The Bus Station' post='1949570' date='Aug 15 2009, 10:15 AM'] Thank you for the very informative post missionseeker.

Question: when you say "more dough," you mean for me, or the school?

Another question: do you know much about the Philosophy, Theology or Literature curriculum?

kthxbye

ps. Rexi, I agree -- the church does look like a spaceship.[/quote]

For you

The Philosophy, Theology, and Literature core are the same as at SCC. Pretty much exactly. I've not taken a philosophy course there, but I took a literature and three theologies and they were very good.