Tom Monaghan, a right-wing billionaire, is set to take over the Cistercian monastery of Mount Melleray in Waterford. He is closely linked to several pro-life groups and has endorsed Trump.
Monaghan established a private Catholic university in Florida, known as Ave Maria University. It aims to turn out right-wing graduates who challenge any idea that women have a right to control their own bodies.
Mount Melleray will be vacated by the Cistercian Order, and the remaining monks will move to other centres. It is yet another sign of how Catholic clergy are ageing and not being replaced.
Monaghan aims to build a campus in Waterford that is linked to the Ava Marie University.
The aim is clearly to import the MAGA movement to Ireland. Figures such as Steve Bannon, who was closely linked to Epstein, have long lamented the absence of a serious far-right movement in the Dáil.
In the US, right-wing Catholics have helped to form to eco-system that underpins the Trump movement.
Their cutting edge has been an attack on womens’ rights, trans people and immigration.
We can expect that the transfer of Mount Melleray to Monaghan’s Ave Maria University will follow a similar pattern.
It also indicates that a section of the Catholic hierarchy believes that their future lies in stoking up a far-right agenda
Yet for decades, the bishops covered up child abuse by priests and in a notorious Woods deal, got away with limited compensation for the victims.
The Mount Melleray site should be used as a public amenity – not a right-wing private college.