Declan Ganley and Legatus: Extreme christian group and Libertas links exposed through Irish property developer Garrett Kelleher

Garrett Kelleher's, Shelbourne Development Group building where Libertas had the 7th Floor at Cortenbergh 71, Brussels, Belgium

Legatus...whose main aim is to attack one of the foundation stones upon which modern Irish democtacy is built - the separation of chuch and state.
Like many Islamic fundamentalist groups - Legatus see this separation as morally wrong as they strive to impose a Christian form of Sharia law.
This extreme religious view goes hand in hand with a form of brutish laissez-faire capitalism that even targets movements such as "Fair Trade" as a form of moral cancer.
Although they want to impose this form of allegedly Papist Taliban governance upon us, they rail against any government moves to promote a fairer society.

Legatus look to promote the more extreme members of the Republican party (GOP) in its efforts to change the face of American politics. One source said of its founder:

“This guy seems really, predictably, interested in changing the ideology of the Republican Party and ultimately the ideology of Congress,” said Clyde Wilcox, an expert in campaign finance and political science professor at Georgetown University in Washington

Declan Ganley, and his Libertas brand have for the past year at least received succour and support from this small group of super rich Ultra Catholic, anti abortion, anti contraception and ultra conservatives who are active in politics in at least four countries. The four countries in which they have active branches are Ireland, Canada, Poland and the USA. Libertas formed in Ireland and put forward it greatest number of candidates, many linked to the ultra Catholic, far right League of Polish Families, in Poland in Junes European elections. They failed to achieve any candidates there. All in all this backing of Libertas is the greatest emale of an unelected elite attemying to influence public debate and life that I can find.
Ganley has hit paydirt by connecting with this very right-wing conservative (economically and socially) Catholic /neo Catholic unelected elite.

In late 2008 , Libertas took 7th floor offices in a building , Cortenbergh 71 in Brussels, a building owned by Shelbourne Development Group. Shelbourne is owned by a generally publicity shy property developer Garrett Kelleher http://www.shelbournedevelopment.com/property.php?id=35
Kelleher, was described by the Sunday Independent as “as a quiet person and a devout Catholic who likes to work and then go home to his family." (Sunday Independent, Sunday 28 Jan, 2007 http://www.independent.ie/business/i...er-121421.html.). Backed by Anglo Irish Bank, Kelleher, is the developer behind the stalled Chicago Spire which, Donald Trump described as "pipe dream" and "financial suicide", predicting there wouldn't be "any institution stupid enough to finance it". Sunday Independent January 28 2007 http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/shy-developer-is-trumping-a-master-to-build-tallest-tower-121421.html.
He has also been the Chairman of the Irish chapter of Legatus.

Kellegher is also on the Board of Regents of Ave Marie University which confirms his having held the position of Chairman of Legatus Ireland in 2006. http://www.avemaria.edu/aboutus/and http://www.avemaria.edu/boardofregents2/
The mission of both the Ave Maria University, and Law School, is to churn out future corporate executives, lawyers, judges and political leaders who would increasingly graft his version of natural law principles unto American jurisprudence. They were both set up by Monaghan in a town that he built in the Florida swamps.

Legatus
Legatus, is a Catholic organisation with around 5000 members worldwide. The membership is drawn from Catholic CEOs, business owners, senior management and their wives. In its magazine articles appear which attack President Obama http://www.legatusmagazine.org/?p=1174 and suggest that the Fair Trade movement is bad for poor people and that Free Trade is the answer to world poverty and exclusion

. http://www.legatusmagazine.org/?page_id=5

Legatus promotes an ultra conservative agenda, anti abortion activism and is seen by members of the US Democratic Party as being an organisation that seeks to subjugate women. In the past few years the Irish Chapter has had speakers such as Dana and William Binchy, John Waters and Fr. Owen Gorman at their monthly gatherings. http://www.legatus.org/public/chapterDetail.asp

Gorman writes for Alive magazine like another Liberatas supporter Jacki Ascough of the Ascough clan who link Ganley with unelected elites from the aristocratic Bourbon clan. See Libertas backers monarchist unelected elites exposed

When Ganley addressed the John Paul II society in Sligo in February this year he said public figures “should never be afraid to speak of their faith, their beliefs and their values”., he also said “Christ calls us to be ambassadors for his message” and that “once society does not treat every life as precious and inviolable from conception to natural death, then man becomes a product subjected to pragmatism and utilitarianism such that abortion, euthanasia and the destruction of human life are presented as false rights and choice.”” http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0210/1233867929737.html

In this Ganley was echoing the aims of his political and presumably financial backers Legatus. When Libertas spokesperson John McGuirk was contacted by People Korps today (Sunday 27 Sept.) and asked whether Mr. Ganley was himself a member of Legatas and whether legatus supported Libertas in their campaigns he would neither confirm nor deny, but did say that of Legatus that “They are a great bunch of guys”. (email John McGuirk to peoplekorp@gmail.com 27 Sept. 2009)The name derived from the Latin root, Legate which means Ambassador. The Legutas website states that: “Our mission is to study, live and spread the faith in our businesses, professional and personal lives. Legatus exists to help our members meet the challenge of balancing responsibilities of family, Church, business and community. We are called to be an Ambassador in Christ and Legatus seeks to support each member in this very special calling.”
http://legatustampabay.com/Legatus/home.htm
With more than 4,200 members across the United States, Canada, Ireland and Poland, Legatus brings its members together in a monthly forum that fosters personal spiritual growth. We offer a unique support network of like-minded Catholics who have the ability to practice and infuse their faith in their daily lives and workplaces of their family, friends, colleagues and employees.
Legatus currently provides service to over 1,800 businesses in 60 chapters across the United States and internationally on three continents. Our members enjoy the benefits of networking, peer support, spiritual growth and full spousal membership. The organization designed exclusively for top-ranking Catholic business leaders. Since the inception of Legatus on May 7, 1987, its mission has been to bring Catholic business leaders and their spouses together in a monthly forum that fosters personal spiritual growth.
Founded by Tom Monaghan, the founder of Domino Pizzas, Legatus has its headquarter in Ave Marie , Florida, a town Monaghan built after selling Domino for more than $1 billion. The town and the ultra conservative Catholic university, on whose board Kellagher sits, are part of Moneghan’s vision to turn America and other states into Christian, and preferably Catholic run and controlled societies.
According to the New York Times “Mr. Monaghan founded Legatus a year after the American bishops of the church issued a letter critiquing Reagan-era capitalism and calling for fair wages, stronger unions, a guarantee of full employment and other economic policies that took the powerless into account.
The letter drew strong reaction from leading Catholic conservatives”
Critics began to say that religion was merely a stalking horse for his political agenda.
''His goal is to spread his conservative ideas, and he just waves a thin veil of religion in front of them,'' said Barbara A. Pott, coordinator of a Michigan branch of Call to Action, a liberal Catholic organization.” N.Y. TIMES Sunday, February 14, 1999 http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/14/business/taking-the-gospel-to-the-rich.html

The senior Libertas source alleges that Kellegher sat in on a Libertas policy meeting in the Brussels office on 3 December 2008 which is owned by his company Shelbourne Devlopment Projects. Kellegher is alleged to have contributed little to the meeting but did listen in on the ten strong Libertas group which ,included Mr. Ganley, planning of their campaign for 2009.

Increasingly active in politics ever since his religious awakening, Monaghan's interests appear to be mainly moral; specifically, he wants a state run according to conservative Catholic principles. “I believe all of history is just one big battle between good and evil,” he once told Newsweek. “I don't want to be on the sidelines.” Among the political vehicles he has created are the Ave Maria Foundation, which supports an array of conservative causes; the Ave Maria School of Law in Michigan; the Ave Maria List, which supports anti-abortion candidates; and Legatus, a lay group for rich, conservative Catholic CEOs. (“In what ways can we as Apostles bring CHRIST into our businesses?” St. Louis chapter president, Leo McDonald, wrote in an essay entitled “Christ in the Boardroom.”) http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/04/sb-20070425hxoc In 2006 Monaghan made national headlines in the USA when he said his town would not sell contraceptives pills or condoms. He has contributed to over 70 political campaigns in the USA through his PAC , Ave Maria and personally. He has contributed to campaigns by George W. Bush and a host of anti abortion activist seeking public office.

So in light of the fact that the Libertas brand sells a far right Christian view of society, the fact that they received their offices from Kellegher who oversaw their planning meeting on 3 December 2008, the fact that their cadre in Ireland are drawn from an ultra conservative unelected Catholic elite who hold “family values” above the rights of women, revile homosexuality, and actively campaign for political change based on their views. It is notable that Mohehan and Legatus have also been linked with the far right Heritage think tank that Ganley addressed in his first entry to the public arena as a spokesperson for moral change and in opposition to the European Union. In conclusion if is clear that Ganleys’ claims to be against unelected elites and pro democracy are a sham. He is in fact the figurehead of a front organisation which promotes ultra Catholic views and is determined to undermine secular government and society.

Further reading below http://www.lifenews.com/nat269.html Bush http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/10/22/93447/659 The Pizza-man Delivers: Monaghan's Dough for Radical Right Politicos (Thirteenth in a Series) http://www.newsmeat.com/billionaire_political_donations/Tom_Monaghan.php Monaghan’s political contributions http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/committees/ave-maria-list-pac-the.asp?cycle=04 Ave marie 2004 http://www.ontheissues.org/Social/Mel_Martinez_Abortion.htm

Legatus membership critera

Executive Membership Criteria Primary membership for the top ranking Catholic in a business
Requirements	Manufacturing/Sales/Service	Financial Services
1) Title	Chairman, President, CEO, Owner, Managing Director, Managing Partner, Publisher	Same titles
2) Personnel	30 employees OR 10 employees and $1M annual payroll	10 employees
3) Volume/Value	$5 Million OR $10M Net Value	$100 Million (assets)
Division Head Membership Criteria The top ranking Catholic in a qualifying division or subsidiary
Requirements	Manufacturing/Sales/Service	Financial Services
1) Title	Chairman, President, CEO, Owner, Managing Director, Managing Partner, Publisher, Executive Vice President
2) Personnel	30 employees OR 10 employees and $1M annual payroll	10 employees
3) Volume/Value	$5 Million OR $10M Net Value	$100 Million (assets)
Intermediate Membership Criteria Adjusted Criteria for Applicants under the age of 40 75% of full criteria. 15% prior 3-year growth. Must meet full criteria by 45th birthday.
Requirements	Manufacturing/Sales/Service	Financial Services
1) Title	Chairman, President, CEO, Owner, Managing Director, Managing Partner, Publisher	Same titles
2) Personnel	22 employees OR $750,000 annual payroll	8 employees
3) Volume/Value	$3.75 Million OR $7.5M net value	$75 Million (assets)