the Latin American Solidarity Committee, and the Ann Arbor Commission to Defend Abortion Rights) protested the Monaghan/Word of God connection. Catholic organizations In 1983 he established the Mater Christi Foundation, today known as the Ave Maria Foundation, to focus on Catholic education, media, community projects and other charities. Monaghan is founder and CEO of Legatus International, an organization of business Executives, Presidents, CEOs, and their spouses who are committed to studying, living and spreading the Catholic faith. Founded in 1987, Legatus empowers their 5,000+ members to boldly live their Catholic identity as “Ambassadors for Christ in the Marketplace.” In 1988, St. Pope John Paul II addressed members of Legatus and encouraged them, “The world needs genuine witnesses to Christian ethics in the field of business and the Church asks you to fulfill this role publicly with courage and perseverance.” In 1997, he recruited former Evangelical pastor Al Kresta to lead Ave Maria Communications, which became the first Catholic radio apostolate in America with the popularly known Ave Maria Radio. He also established the Ave Maria List anti-abortion political action committee, and the Thomas More Law Center, a public interest law firm dedicated to promoting social conservative issues such as opposition to abortion, same sex marriage, and secularism. In addition, his foundation established the Spiritus Sanctus Academies. These elementary schools are administered by the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. The Ave Maria Foundation has subsequently fine-tuned its focus to higher education, and has established both a university and a law school. Along with that change in focus, many of the other non-profit entities that the Ave Maria Foundation established have become independent or are in the process of being weaned from Ave Maria Foundation grants. Monaghan is reputed to be a member of Opus Dei and has been aligned with a number of other conservative Catholic organizations and causes. Monaghan is a donor to Priests for Life, a Roman Catholic anti-abortion organization. He is a knight of magistral grace in the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Ave Maria School of Law The Ave Maria School of Law, previously located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, opened its doors in 2000, and received full accreditation from the American Bar Association in 2005. The school was a dream of several professors from the Catholic University of Detroit Mercy, who publicly left that institution when it allowed several pro-choice members of the Michigan