Walt Disney once had a plan that the part of the land he purchased in Florida for the Walt Disney World theme park would include an actual city, called EPCOT (which was an acronym for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) and incorporating many exciting new ideas in technology and civic planning. After Walt’s death, the plan was abandoned, and the name EPCOT was later used for a World’s Fair-like theme park.

Now, however, Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan is founding his own ideal community in Florida, as the setting for his new Catholic university. Both the school and the town will be named Ave Maria. Monaghan is spending $250 million on the 5,000-acre complex.

But it’s not without controversy. Monaghan has said that he wants the town to follow Catholic ideals — including banning the sale of condoms in town pharmacies, banning X-rated channels on any cable TV service in the town, and so on.

In the face of some potential legal challenges, Monaghan has backing off of some of the statements he made last year, saying they were more geared to the university than the town itself.

There have been, over the centuries, various proposals to start ideal religious-based communities. In 1887, a Kansan named Horace Wilcox founded a community in California which he intended to be operated along strict religious principles. Wilcox and his wife called the town “Hollywood,” and sure enough it later became famous — but not exactly for its religious virtue.

As Christians, we are called to be “in the world, but not of it.” I question whether sequestering ourselves in little safe zones is an ideal situation for fulfilling the Great Commission.

Still, one must admire Monaghan for founding Ave Maria University, for making such a bold commitment to his faith, and for putting his personal fortune where his beliefs are.