"Catholic Jonestown"

The Wall Street Journal on Friday ran this story, "Bringing a Law School Down:  Should Ave Maria be part of 'Catholic Jonestown'?", reporting on the rumblings and dissension that (apparently) surround the question whether Ave Maria School of Law should "relocate to rural Florida," where the school's primary financial supporter, Tom Monaghan, is planning to create a Catholic community, "Ave Maria Town."  According to Monaghan:

"We'll own all commercial real estate," Mr. Monaghan declared, describing his vision. "That means we will be able to control what goes on there. You won't be able to buy a Playboy or Hustler magazine in Ave Maria Town. We're going to control the cable television that comes in the area. There is not going to be any pornographic television in Ave Maria Town. If you go to the drug store and you want to buy the pill or the condoms or contraception, you won't be able to get that in Ave Maria Town."

Ann Althouse describes Monaghan's vision as "creepy."  (On a more pedestrian note, I wonder if it could even be implemented, legally).  And, Lior Strahilivitz talks about the Town's "exclusionary vibes" in this excellent paper, "Information Assymetries and the Rights to Exclude." 

My own take -- which is consonant, I think, with Althouse's -- is that (a) although it is not "creepy" to care about the enterprise of sustaining a distinctively and authentically Catholic law school, (b) it is big mistake to think that the enterprise is well served by retreating to a homogenous, planned community without an established, rich university environment.  As Althouse puts it:  "You can't retreat and purify yourself.  You have to become involved with the complexities of life, not shrink away from them."  (It sounds like many of Ave Maria's faculty and students agree.)