万花筒 Kaleidoscope2007-08-31&09-02, 天主教的乌托邦

Deep in the heart of south Florida along the hazy¹ swamps of the everglades, a brand new town is rising up from nothing. This is Ave Maria. A Catholic Utopia founded and funded by billionaire businessman Tom Monaghan. His ticket, he hopes to eternal salvation².

My goal is to get to Heaven and drag as many people along with me as I can.

Holy Mary, Mother of God.

Here streets are named after saints and popes. The town square built around a massive cathedral designed by Monaghan himself.

I think this will be one of the ten best known catholic churches in the country. The ten-year plan, 11,000 homes, 25,000 residents and 5,000 students at Ave Maria University.

Does it feel like Disney World for Catholics to you?

Well, I think it would be a place where, I think, a certain amount of Catholics, particularly serious Catholics would wanna live around a serious, really high quality Catholic university.

Monaghan has pumped nearly half a billion dollars of his personal fortune into Ave Maria, money he earned from the Domino's Pizza chain he founded and then sold nearly a decade ago. These are his glory years, his reward after a childhood of poverty and struggle, raised by nuns³ in a Catholic orphanage⁴ yearning⁵ to give back his whole life, building his business around that goal.

You know the old saying: life is short and eternity⁶ is forever, Domino's was just a... I always saw Domino's as a way to help the church. But wealth brought temptation, fancy cars, a baseball team, a fleet of private jets. Then one day while reading a book by the Christian⁷ writer C.S. Lewis, Monaghan began to feel like a fraud.

I read this chapter in there called the Great Sin, and it's the sin of pride, worst of all sins. When you want to have more than other people have and accomplish more than other people have, that's a, it's, it's, that comparison to other people to be better than other people that...

So you sold everything off. Everything that was ostentatious. Yes.

The money is now going into Ave Maria which Monaghan insists is open to everyone not just Catholics.

What if somebody wanted to build a synagogue or a mosque⁸ on the grounds here? (Fine. Fine.) Fine? (Sure.)

What if an atheist⁹ wanted to move to town?

That's fine, too.

Maybe so but Monaghan prefers Ave Maria take its cues from the Vatican. In the past Monaghan has said cable TV here in Ave Maria would not be allowed to air adult programming like pornography. He's also said pharmacists wouldn't be distributing birth control, critics blasted him since then he's backed off. He realized he can ban condoms and porn at his private university but the law stops him from doing that in town.

I said some things that I didn't know I was talking about early on. You know, we are not gonna break the law, you know, I prefer not to have that sort of thing, that's something that my faith teaches as immoral¹⁰.

So if a pharmacist decided¹¹ that he wanted to open up shop here and he wanted to sell contraception, would he be allowed to?

I don't think I would be able to do anything about it.

Even though you would want to?

I would, yeah, I would probably want to.

That might sound scary to some people, (Ready for your own room?) but to David and Marta Eysaman, it sounds like a wholesome¹² family environment.

Little bit of shelter, little bit of shelter from the crazy world. Not saying that influence might not get in here somehow, but I think it's going to be a lot more difficult for that to happen.

Proud new residents of Tom Monaghan's Kingdom of Heaven.

1 hazy   

adj.有薄雾的，朦胧的；不肯定的，模糊的

参考例句：

• We couldn't see far because it was so hazy.雾气蒙蒙妨碍了我们的视线。
• I have a hazy memory of those early years.对那些早先的岁月我有着朦胧的记忆。

2 salvation   

n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困

参考例句：

• Salvation lay in political reform.解救办法在于政治改革。
• Christians hope and pray for salvation.基督教徒希望并祈祷灵魂得救。

3 nuns   

n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Ah Q had always had the greatest contempt for such people as little nuns. 小尼姑之流是阿Q本来视如草芥的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Nuns are under vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. 修女须立誓保持清贫、贞洁、顺从。 来自辞典例句

4 orphanage   

n.孤儿院

参考例句：

• They dispensed new clothes to the children in the orphanage.他们把新衣服发给孤儿院的小孩们。
• They gave the proceeds of the sale to the orphanage.他们把销售的收入给了这家孤儿院。

5 yearning   

a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的

参考例句：

• a yearning for a quiet life 对宁静生活的向往
• He felt a great yearning after his old job. 他对过去的工作有一种强烈的渴想。

6 eternity   

n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷

参考例句：

• The dull play seemed to last an eternity.这场乏味的剧似乎演个没完没了。
• Finally,Ying Tai and Shan Bo could be together for all of eternity.英台和山伯终能双宿双飞，永世相随。

7 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

8 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

9 atheist   

n.无神论者

参考例句：

• She was an atheist but now she says she's seen the light.她本来是个无神论者，可是现在她说自己的信仰改变了。
• He is admittedly an atheist.他被公认是位无神论者。

10 immoral   

adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的

参考例句：

• She was questioned about his immoral conduct toward her.她被询问过有关他对她的不道德行为的情况。
• It is my belief that nuclear weapons are immoral.我相信使核武器是不邪恶的。

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

12 wholesome   

adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的

参考例句：

• In actual fact the things I like doing are mostly wholesome.实际上我喜欢做的事大都是有助于增进身体健康的。
• It is not wholesome to eat without washing your hands.不洗手吃饭是不卫生的。