real estate in the town, and plans to build 11,000 homes and several business districts. Pulte Homes has been signed up to build most of the private homes. Monaghan said in 2005 that any town retailers would not be allowed to sell contraceptives or pornography, a statement that drew legal criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union. Threatened with lawsuits, Monaghan and the developers went on a national public relations campaign in March 2007 to retract the notion that Catholic doctrine could ever be enforced as law. Defenders of Wildlife also challenged the development, stating it is destroying habitat of the endangered Florida panther. Ave Maria Mutual Funds Monaghan helped to establish the Ave Maria Mutual Funds by asking friend George P. Schwartz of Schwartz Investment Counsel, Inc. to launch the Ave Maria Catholic Values Fund in May 2001. There are now five Ave Maria Mutual Funds. They are described as targeted at investors seeking to place their money in companies whose operations are in keeping with the core teachings of the Catholic Church. The fund calls their shareholders "morally responsible investors". The funds are open to individual investors with a $1,000 minimum investment. Monaghan is a member of the Catholic Advisory Board. The board sets the religious criteria that screen companies before the funds will invest in them. Involvement with contraception, non-marital partner employee benefits, pornography, and abortion are some issues that disqualify a company from the fund. Lou Holtz, Larry Kudlow, Michael Novak, Phyllis Schlafly and Paul Roney are the other members of the Funds' Catholic Advisory Board. Cardinal Adam Maida (of the Archdiocese of Detroit) is the board's ecclesiastic advisor. Political support Monaghan has been active in Republican Party politics, and was one of the key financial backers of Sam Brownback in his 2008 presidential campaign. Monaghan also endorsed Donald Trump during his 2020 presidential campaign. See also 1984 Detroit Tigers season Tom Monaghan's Leaning Tower of Pizza References Further reading External links Daily Catholic: Top 100 Catholics of the Century, No. 38, Thomas S. Monaghan Boston Phoenix article about the town of Ave Maria Major Private Gifts to Higher Education Since 1967 Ave Maria Foundation Ave Maria Mutual Funds Ave Maria University 1937 births American anti-abortion activists American philanthropists Ave Maria University Detroit Tigers owners Domino's Pizza Giving Pledgers 21st-century philanthropists Living people Major League Baseball owners Businesspeople from Ann Arbor, Michigan Pizza chain founders Roman