Established between Naples and Ft Lauderdale in 2007, Ave Maria is the Catholic Community you've been looking for.

Nestled in the heart of Collier County, Florida and east of I-75 and Naples, Ave Maria is a vibrant and growing Catholic community.  A community where children ride their bicycles to a parochial school and folks walk to the grocery store. Our beautiful iconic Church is located in the heart of Ave Maria, surrounded by the Piazza with quaint restaurants, offices, and unique shops. Ave Maria University is bustling with activity just across the street. Head west to visit the beautiful Gulf Coast Beaches or head east to the bright lights and big cities of Miami and Ft. Lauderdale.

Ave Maria Parish welcomes you to our parish family and looks forward to having you be not only a part of our Parish Family but also a part of the Ave Maria community.  You will find many Catholic activities in and around town and feel free to read other sections of this website to learn more about them.  Ave Maria is a growing Catholic Community that has attracted Catholics from all over the United States and the world.  Even if you do not live in Ave Maria consider visiting Ave Maria and you might be surprised.  For many Catholics that live in Ave Maria this is how their journey started.  God might be calling you and your family.

Ave Maria Parish welcomes back Reverend David Vidal, PhD as our new pastor.  Bishop Frank Dewane announced via the Diocese of Venice in Florida newsletter, "The Mustard Seed."  Fr. Vidal's prior assignment was at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Parish in LaBelle, FL and started at Ave Maria Parish on Feb 1 ^st, 2021.  Our previous pastor Reverend Cory Mayer became the new pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Grove City, FL on Feb 1 ^st, 2021.

Father David Mariano Vidal was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on August 13, 1973, the fifth of seven siblings. His parents, Alicia and Julio, live in Buenos Aires.  He attended public elementary schools and a Catholic high school.  In 1993 he began studies for the priesthood, and he was ordained to the priesthood in La Plata, Buenos Aires, on August 9, 2001.  Father Vidal’s two brothers are missionary priests, and three of his sisters are nuns.  After some years of missionary work in the United States, Fr. Vidal entered the graduate program in the School of Philosophy of the Catholic University of America in the fall of 2009.  He received the Licentiate degree in Philosophy in 2012, with a thesis on “Nature and Suppositum in the Metaphysics of Thomas Aquinas” under the direction of Msgr. John F. Wippel.  He received the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 2020, with a dissertation on “Res as Transcendental in the Metaphysics of Thomas Aquinas” under the direction of Gregory T. Doolan.  He has been a lecturer at Saint John Vianney College Seminary in Miami.  In the Diocese of Venice, Father Vidal was assigned as Parochial Vicar of Ave Maria Parish in August 2017, Administrator of Our Lady Queen of Heaven Parish in LaBelle in May 2018, and Pastor of Ave Maria Parish in February 2021.

Fr Vidal's Independence Day Homily and Sarah's Song

A reporter was asking different people what Independence Day meant to them. And even though these people came from different walks of life, they had one common answer. All of them mentioned freedom as the reason for the celebration. Now, the reporter did not press on. He did not ask the difficult question: “What does freedom mean to you?”

Our secular and modern society carries a mistaken idea that freedom means a license to do whatever you want. According to this thought (perhaps we should even call it “agenda”), people can say the most abhorrent words, commit the most disgusting and evil actions, and nevertheless, say with a straight face, “I am free to do that!”

There is something wrong with this conception. In his book, Things Worth Dying For, Archbishop Charles Chaput explains the fallacy of this misconception with these words: “The decline of real freedom is a feature of modern life. Tolerance is revered as the badge of an enlightened people. But an unwillingness to name evil, to teach right from wrong, and to resist the behaviors that wickedness creates is a recipe for license, not freedom.”

True freedom, then, is not the ability to do whatever you want. The ability to do whatever you want without caring for the goodness or evilness of the act is named licentiousness. According to its definition, licentiousness means “the lack of legal or moral restraints in moral behaviors.”

Freedom is not licentiousness. Freedom fosters good people. Licentiousness fosters criminals. Freedom is not the ability to do whatever you want but the ability to know and do what is good!

Those who advocate for this kind of “freedom” that does not know moral boundaries (and that truly means “licentiousness”) never speak about responsibility. However, there is no freedom without responsibility. There is freedom because there are values that you treasure as the highest ideals that you want to exercise, and consequently, you want to respect and protect.

True freedom and responsibility go hand in hand, and as Archbishop Chaput says: “Our responsibility is to Truth. Jesus himself said that ‘You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free,’ (Jn 8:32).”

Truth is the heart of freedom. There is no freedom without truth. Now, truth is not an abstract idea that is not involved with people and events. Truth is not merely something you read about in books. Truth is and must be in our minds and hearts, in our decisions as individuals, family members, and members of a nation. Truth is not an abstract idea but the highest ideal that must be incarnate.

In fact, the Truth became flesh and dwelt among us, and He taught us with his life what it means to be truly free. Then, by conforming ourselves to Jesus, the Truth incarnate, we become truly free.

In another book, Render unto Caesar, Archbishop Chaput asks this question: “What needs to be done by Catholics today for their country?”

Then, he provides the answer: “The answer is: Don’t lie . . . If we say we’re Catholic, we need to prove it. America’s public life needs people willing to stand alone, without apologies, for the truth of the Catholic faith and the common human values it defends. [And] one person can make a difference – if that individual has a faith he or she is willing to suffer for.”

So simple and so true: don’t lie. If you want to preserve the gift of freedom, do not lie. That simple determination will have an immediate impact on your entire life.

Don’t lie to yourself by using double standards, don’t lie to society when you need to stand for the gifts of life and family, and don’t lie to your country when you are called to exercise your civic duties. If you want to defend freedom, be an agent of truth!

A final point: we must not be ashamed of the truth.

There is another misconception that permeates our secular and modern society: it is claimed that the acceptance of the highest ideals of goodness and truth is reduced to church. Then, when we put a foot outside the church, we are “free” of those “religious” conceptions.

Is that true? Would it be right to have one personality inside the church and suddenly, when we cross the church doors, have a completely different one? This is a false interpretation of the separation of religion and State. This is a misconception fostered by secularism.

According to the Cambridge dictionary: “secularism” is the belief that religion should not be involved with the ordinary social and political activities of a country. This definition helps us to understand the problem. Secularism is a belief; secularism is a kind of religion that shouts: “We have no king but Caesar!” (John 19: 15). Secularism is a profession of faith in the world.

Secularism is a false religion, and we Catholics must show that we follow the Truth who became flesh and dwelt among us, not just in the church, but in the world, in the place where we live, at home, in the office, in the school, in the playground, and in whatever place we find ourselves.

In his book, Catholics in the Public Square, Bishop Thomas Olmsted warns us that “The separation of Church and state all too often is used as an excuse to silence people of faith and to discourage them from legitimately participating in the public square. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution, of course, does not advocate for a separation of Church and state at all, but rather the protection of religious freedom from the state.”

If we take our faith seriously, we will not remain silent about our faith. If we take the highest ideals of goodness and truth seriously, we will not remain silent about them. And if we remain silent, sooner or later, the freedom that we enjoy will be taken away from us

Let us celebrate our freedom by being agents of truth. Then, we will truly be free. Amen

You may request prayers for yourself or your immediate family by calling Ave Maria Parish at 239-261-5555.  These prayers needs may include illness, surgeries, death, accidents, baptisms, weddings, or other events.  Your request will be included in our parish prayer list which will be emailed to the Ave Prays Volunteers (Prayer Warriors).  

Please consider being a Prayer Warrior for our Parish.  The only requirement beyond prayers is for you to access your emails on a regular basis to receive the parish prayer list.

To volunteer as a Prayer Warrior, email your First Name, Last Name, Email, and Phone Number to avemariaprays(at)gmail.com.  God bless you for your time and prayers that make a difference.

The Knights of Columbus are collecting food for the Our Lady of Guadalupe Casa Maria Soup Kitchen and Food Pantry in Immokalee.  Please donate items such as formula, canned vegetables, canola oil, cereal dried and canned, beans, corn and wheat flour, powdered milk, raisins, rice, sugar, soap, and laundry cleaning products in the boxes in the Narthex.  If you are interested in becoming a Knight, please contact Don Imbus at 937-430-9727.

Learn about Natural Family Planning and the Creighton Model FertilityCare System.  You will learn about God's wondrous gift of fertility and gain a greater appreciation for that gift including how to monitor your own reproductive health.  For more information contact Margaret Kelly, FCPI at mpkelly510(at)gmail.com or by calling 561-401-2233.  

The following is a story regarding one of Ave Maria's own, Jean Prather and her creation of a children's Catholic website.

Dear Friends of Ave Maria,

One sunny day I was sitting in the Adoration Chapel which is located in the center of the beautiful town of Ave Maria. I was thinking about the data from a shocking poll I had just read. The poll was done by the Pew Research people and it found that: "just one-third of U.S. Catholics agree with their Church that the Eucharist is Body, Blood of Christ." Surprised? I was. And that is exactly what I was praying about that day. At one point I asked Jesus if there was anything I could do to help Him remedy this? It was during my time with Him that day in the Adoration Chapel that I believe He inspired me with the thought: "Catholic Kids 101: kids telling kids about Jesus."
 
It took a little while to figure out just exactly what that would look like. After a lot of prayers going up from the best "prayer warrior" friends one could have, lively discussions and phone calls with trusted collaborators, CK101 brainstorm sessions, and letters back and forth from "my Carmelite nuns," Catholic Kids 101 began to take shape.
 
The "CK101 kids" that are featured on the pages of this website are a compilation of the hundreds and hundreds of amazing Catholic children I have met over the years when I was producing original Catholic music for children, coordinating Catholic Vacation Bible Schools and then working as the Elementary Director of Religious Education at a vibrant parish. 
 
It was a 2nd grade child preparing for her First Holy Communion who not only told me what the word "transubstantiation" means but then, to my great surprise, proceeded to spell the word perfectly for me too. The boy who proudly explained that "Christmas" really means "Christ's Mass." The child who unabashedly announced to the group of 80 children getting ready to make their visit with Jesus to pray for his school friend with cancer because Jesus could make his friend well again. And He did. The group of little ones who spontaneously waved to Jesus and blew Him kisses when we walked by the Church because they knew He was really there in the tabernacle. The ones who offered Our Lord little sacrifices of love because their friend, Saint Therese, had showed them her Little Way. "The Story of Saint Anthony and the Donkey," the question of what happens when my grandpa dies, singing "You are My Sunshine"" to Jesus in the Adoration chapel... all these incidents and so many, many more that I experienced over the years with children are woven into the CK101 kids pages. These are the real life children that the CK101 kids represent. These are the children who are the "kids telling kids about Jesus." And these are the children, along with every single child who visits this site and learns that Jesus is really and truly present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, that "Catholic Kids 101" is dedicated to.

Jean Prather
Full time resident of Ave Maria since 2017 

Please click the link to CatholicKids101.com and visit us today!