Ave Maria Living.com
Ave Maria, Florida – the town with a Catholic heart.©™ Stories & information for residents & visitors.Archive for Ave Maria chronicles
10 things changing this summer in Ave Maria, Florida
While Summer doesn’t begin until June 21, the town of Ave Maria goes into summer mode once AMU has it’s graduation. Here are a few things in store during this break from the university’s academic year and from the “season” when resident snowbirds, tourists and pilgrims are absent.
1. AMU Summer Academic Term: Ave Maria University holds summer classes. Session I is from May 12 through June 21, 2014, and Session II is from June 23 through August 2, 2014.
2. Ave Maria Oratory Quasi-Parish schedule of Mass and Confession change (Ave Herald always has the updated Mass schedule).
Sunday Mass: 8 am Latin; 10 am English (also 4:15 vigil on Saturday when FOCUS is on campus May 27 to July 6).
Monday-Friday Mass: Noon (also 5:15 Mass when FOCUS is on campus May 27 to July 6)
Saturday Mass: 9 am Saturday Confession: 9:30 – 10:30 am
Wednesday Confession: 2:45 – 3:45 pm
3. FOCUS New Staff Training: Once again the campus of Ave Maria University will be the site where over 500 employees and staff from the Fellowship of Catholic University Students will hold New Staff Training. According to AMU sources: the FOCUS people will begin to arrive on May 27 and May 28, with the majority of the group of 420 staying until July 6. There may be a group of about 50 that will stay until July 15, and there will be one week where there will be up to 520 in the group.
Ave Maria University’s 10th Commencement
Some highlights from AMU’s 10th annual commencement exercises held today. The first two photos are from AMU student photographer Jeremiah Rappley’s excellent social media album that has a hundred more images of the weekend events.
More images and video clips below.
Donahue Catholic honors fallen Army pilot and military alums
Margaret Padgett in front of the Major David Padgett Wall of Honor, newly installed at Donahue Catholic Academy in Ave Maria
This afternoon the Donahue Catholic Academy of Ave Maria dedicated a Wall of Honor to honor Army pilot Major David Padgett who was killed during the Vietnam War. The founder of the school, Marine Corps veteran Tom Monaghan, and the school’s benefactrix namesake, Mrs. Rhodora Donahue, were also on hand for the ceremony in the library where the Wall of Honor is installed. Read the rest of this entry »
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Sunrise in Ave Maria
Ave Maria’s lakes and trails are a great place for a morning walk or run.
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Angelic inspiration from Father Fessio’s anti-blog
Not a few of us miss that great Jesuit and AMU co-founder, Father Joseph Fessio, the founder of publisher Ignatius Press. Back when he lived here in Ave Maria, he came to the house for dinner and gave us a book, The Grain of Wheat, a collection of aphorisms by the great theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar. The book’s short thoughtful sentences – each one a complete thought – made my prayer time extremely fruitful. They offer a sublime concision.
Now Father Fessio has a new project that he calls his anti-blog. These are the two reasons he calls it an anti-blog:
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Great News: Scanlon new athletic & formation director at Donahue Catholic
Two sources have confirmed that beloved Shamrock football coach Rich Scanlon has been hired by Donahue Catholic as its Director of Athletics, Director of Formation, and Physical Education Instructor. Last week Coach Read the rest of this entry »
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Afternoon pilgrimage with Mother Teresa: “If there are poor on the moon we will go there”
I had wanted to see the new Mother Teresa exhibit in Ave Maria since it opened on April 2. After some good news at work, I walked downstairs and headed down the block toward the exhibit to make an act of thanksgiving to God. And I am so glad I did. The exhibit was very moving. For anyone who felt Mother’s absence when she left this world it will be hard not to well up with emotion at every information panel in the exhibit.
What a gift it is to have here in Ave Maria Mother’s Read the rest of this entry »
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Throwback Saturday: Oratory dedication 2008
It was a great day! Click image below for full story (it’s short but worth a read). Can you find the two references to AMU’ s two mottos?
This was written when Bishop Dewane dedicated the Ave Maria Oratory in 2008
Click thumbnails to go to Naples Daily News coverage.
Click here for the video.
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What’s the population of Ave Maria?
At tonight’s annual AMU Founder’s Club Dinner in Naples, the chief operating officer of Barron Collier Companies, Brian Goguen, gave an Ave Maria town update to the nearly 300 attendees. No doubt, the Ave Herald has more details, but these are some highlights:
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A year in Ave Maria, Florida
Bob and Erin Campbell have lived in town since almost the beginning. Hailing from Iowa, Erin is an alum of Ave Maria College. Bob is from Bayonne, NJ, and his alma mater is Franciscan University of Steubenville. Both Bob and Erin are Marine Corps veterans. They and their three daughters just welcomed a new boy to the family. Bob helps coach the football team at Donahue Catholic and is active with the Knights of Columbus and the Naples St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee. They are both real estate agents at the John R. Wood Properties office located in Ave Maria.
They created this video to celebrate the past twelve months doing business in the town they call home, Ave Maria.
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Bishop Dewane in Ave Maria to support youth
On Saturday evening Bishop Frank Dewane celebrated the vigil Mass at the Ave Maria Oratory with parishioners. His visit was in support of the Youth2000 retreat being held in town this weekend.
Five Franciscan Friars giving the retreat and pastor Father Cory Mayer concelebrated the Mass. With nearly 100 local high school and college students participating, the retreat was organized by Sister John Paul, O.P., a teacher at Donahue Catholic academy, and supported by dozens of volunteers.
Bishop Dewane expressed joy in his own vocation while encouraging the retreatants to seriously consider whether God might be calling the young men to be priests or Religious, and the young women to enter Religious life. While in town he also spent time with middle school students.
Venice Bishop Frank Dewane distributes Holy Communion at the Ave Maria Oratory assisted by altar boy Joseph Klucik
A shaft of bright sunlight focuses attention on Venice Bishop Frank Dewane and Father Cory Mayer during Mass in Ave Maria
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Carved in stone: Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ
The Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is normally celebrated on March 25 (tomorrow), which is nine months before the Feast of Christmas. It is also known as the Feast of the Incarnation and the Annunciation of the Lord. 
The feast marks a gospel episode that has been portrayed in art countless times through the centuries, often with the angel Gabriel kneeling before a standing Mary.
Of course, the town of Ave Maria is named after this Incarnation episode. 
Fronting Ave Maria Boulevard (but with the altar facing east) and situated in the middle of Annunciation Circle, the Oratory at the very center of town features the massive Annunciation sculpture, carved here in town in glistening white Carrara marble by Márton Váró from 2009 to 2011. The sculpture is composed of huge carved blocks that are stacked on top of one another and set into the arched tympanum on the front of the Oratory. The carved block portraying Mary’s head and torso was lowered into place from a crane at 6:00 p.m. on January 7, 2011, at which point onlookers joyfully prayed the Angelus (led by Dan Guernsey).
This is how the Annunciation story is told in Luke 1:26-38:
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!”But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be.
And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
And Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no husband?” And the angel said to her,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
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Governor Scott Visits Ave Maria
The local Ave Herald covered the recent visit of our governor, Rick Scott. He stopped by the Bean, toured Donahue Academy & AMU, and met some of the residents and students. Some nice photos at the link. Thanks to Chelsea Allan and Tarren Bragdon.
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Hail & Welcome
Hail (that’s what “Ave” means, after all) and welcome! Is the prayer below how you found us? That blessing is an example of the general approach that most people in the community take toward life: we seek to be ever mindful that every thing is a blessing from the Creator that can be a cause for personal and shared joy and hope.
This website provides information about life in our town, is edited by residents of our town, and is published for fellow residents and others who seek information about the place we call home: Ave Maria, Florida (don’t forget to scroll down and check out all the useful links).
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