More Good News for Ave Maria University: $5 Million Dollar Gift in memory of Paul Henkels

'Paul Henkels was a stalwart leader among Catholic laity in the United States for years'.

AVE MARIA, Fl. (Catholic Online) - Several years ago I had the privilege of being given a tour of the grounds of what would later become the campus of "Ave Maria University". I was given this tour by its President, Nick Healy. The College was already in operation, utilizing the buildings which now house the Law School in Naples, Florida until the campus was built. The tour was of vacant, undeveloped land in what was then a part of the town of Immokalee, in Collier County, Florida.

During the tour and over lunch afterward I heard the hopes, the vision and the dynamic mission of this new Catholic University dedicated to Our Lady. Building the Campus and the town were not a matter of "if" but only "when" to President Healy. That is how men and women of faith speak! It made my heart leap. I have long believed that the most important work at the beginning of this Third Christian Millennium is the training of future leaders for a new missionary age of the Catholic Church.

I have known Nick Healy for years. We both worked together for a time at what became the Franciscan University of Steubenville. He was Vice President for University Relations and I was first the Dean of Students and then the Dean of Evangelization. We were also both lawyers and that gave us a common bond and a similar approach. We were honored to help Fr. Michael Scanlan, a man of deep vision and dynamic faith, turn that little Catholic College into what it has now become, a jewel in the crown of the renewal of Catholic higher education.

Each of us, like the little boy in the Gospel account, gave our loaves and fish, placing them in the hands of the Lord. We knew were a part of a miracle, even when things were hard. Jesus Christ, the One to whom Father Michael rededicated that College, multiplied all of those resources many of us offered back then. He multiplied them and performed a miracle which is still underway at that wonderful Catholic University. Nick is a man who believes what the Author of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote, that "...faith IS the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen". (Heb. 11:1)

As the years unfolded I was not at all surprised to see him respond to the Lords' next invitation. It was given through Catholic philanthropist, business entrepreneur and visionary Tom Monaghan. Nick was invited to help him to build the first new Catholic College in the United States, Ave Maria. Tom Monaghan wanted to build this College within the context of a faith based community. He wanted to build a campus and the town of Ave Maria, figuratively and physically, around a magnificent new Church. There is nothing small about any of Tom Monaghan's undertakings! That was true when he was in business and it is true now as he dedicates the remainder of his years to serving the Lord and His Church. He is an example of how, to paraphrase the Angelic Doctor Thomas Aquinas, "grace perfects nature".

I have been associated with several works built on faith in my life. However, my heart has always been most drawn to educating, training, forming and commissioning the next generation. They are the ones who will carry forward the "New Evangelization" to which the Church is committed in this new missionary age. That is why I have spent the last few years, now in my fifties, pursuing a PhD in Moral Theology at the Catholic University of America. I want to help.

I believe that that at some point I will be invited by the Lord, working through one of His servants, to embrace another missionary assignment associated with a Catholic College. It will take the recovery of our Catholic Colleges and Universities - as well as the building of new ones - to accomplish our missionary challenge in this pregnant hour and critical time in the history of the Church. We need Catholic Colleges and Universities which are fully dedicated to being Catholic Colleges and Universities.

Given my own temperament, I am drawn to big visions. In our early years of marriage I used to tell my wife that I wanted to help build a "New Notre Dame". So, on that day, as I heard the vision of Ave Maria University from Nick Healy, my spirit soared because I realized that it was already underway! Over the years I have followed the story of Ave Maria University - through its advances, its struggles and its perseverance in faith. After all, I know that all works of faith experience all of these realities.Progress in the Lord's work is never easy.

Over those same years I have crossed paths with Nick on occasion. Whenever I have, I have been inspired, I believe by the Holy Spirit, to encourage him and extend my pledge of prayer and solidarity. For example, when our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI visited the United States, I had the joy of being with the Deacons at the Mass in Washington, DC. As we were processing out and returning to our makeshift "sacristy" at the end of the Liturgy, I passed Nick. He did not see me. However, I knew I had to turn around, find him in that massive crowd and encourage him to persevere. I did so. It was a time of struggle for the University. He greeted me with his characteristic warmth and I spoke words of faith to a man of faith.

It is with joy that I now write about some more Good News for Ave Maria University. On the heels of receiving a four million dollar ($4,000,000) gift to build an athletic facility, the University announced on Friday Dec 5, 2009, that it has received a five million dollar ($5,000,000) gift from the Henkels Foundation in honor of the late Paul Henkels, a devout Catholic gentleman, husband, father, businessman, disciple and philanthropist who went home to the Lord in January of this year.

I had the privilege of spending some time over the years with Paul and his wonderful wife Barbara, working on some important Catholic efforts. Their love for the Lord and His Church was always an inspiration. They were always there to support authentically Catholic efforts because they loved the Lord and they understood their vocation as members of His Church to give themselves to the Lord's work.

As well as being dedicated to the defense of the fundamental human Right to Life, they were champions of one of the most important social justice issues of our age, parental choice in education. They founded an organization called "Road to Educational Achievement through Choice" (REACH) which helped to enact Pennsylvania's educational and improvement tax credit that provided companies with a 90 percent tax credit for donations made to a scholarship fund to provide educational choice for disadvantaged children. Paul and Barbara were genuinely charitable; they "walked the walk" as they say.

Paul was the CEO of Henkels & McCoy, Inc., an engineering and construction company, and successful in his career. However, I only found out after Paul's death that at the age of 26 he had started a foundation to which he pledged one-third of his salary throughout that successful career. It did not surprise me. These are wonderful Catholics who understood their Baptismal vocation and did not simply grouse about the challenges we face in the contemporary age but put their hands to the plough and worked to effect real change.

He and Barbara founded two classical Catholic grammar schools and they knew the importance of genuinely catholic education. Paul was instrumental in helping Tom Monaghan build Legatus, an association of Catholic CEOs and presidents dedicated to fidelity to the Church and assisting in her saving mission, particularly in the world of commerce. He also served as the Chairman of the Board of Ave Maria University.

The five million dollar gift from the Henkel's Foundation will be used to construct an academic building which will bear his name. Speaking of the gift, President Nick Healy told the Press, "It's a tremendous gift because it's unrestricted, so it could be used for any purposes of the university, and those purposes are determined by the board of directors".

Tom Monaghan, founder and Chancellor of the University said "We are deeply honored and humbled by the generosity of the Henkels Foundation...Paul was a stalwart leader among Catholic laity in the United States for decades. His activity, generosity and leadership not only at Ave Maria University, but for Catholic education and many Catholic causes, were instrumental and will be missed. Naming our principle classroom facility the Paul M. Henkels Academic Building is a fitting tribute to such a great man, and we are extremely thankful to the Henkels Foundation for donating the funds to make this happen."
The Paul M. Henkels Academic Building will be dedicated at a University ceremony in February 2010.

I last saw Barbara a few months ago at the "Catholic Leadership Conference." She looks great. It has been a number of years and I remember thinking that she hasn't aged! As always, she was lovely and dignified, offering everyone that warm smile which is one of her many gifts. Everyone present offered their support and solidarity in the loss of her friend, husband and co laborer in the Gospel. It was clear that she intended to carry on their work. This latest gift to Ave Maria University simply confirms that fact.

Paul and Barbara's son (also named Paul) made a comment following at his father's funeral in January, 2009 which summarizes Paul's life and the work which continues through his foundation, "He didn't practice what he preached... He practiced what the Lord preached." Amen! I rejoice over this Good News for Ave Maria University. It will help this important Catholic University to train the "living stones" needed for this new missionary age of the Catholic Church. I also invite all of our readers to pray for their important mission.

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