VERO BEACH | This coastal town in Indian River County once known for baseball spring training is also a retirement mecca for Catholic business leaders and working entrepreneurs eager to meet like-minded Catholics. That’s an insight from private-equity business owner Mark Eidemueller, who moved with his wife, Stephanie, and family to the Vero Beach area after years of working in a related position in Boca Raton.
He recently helped establish a Vero Beach chapter of Legatus, an international organization for Catholic business leaders, now with 96 chapters in 37 states, plus Canada and Mexico, and a total of some 5,500 members. The new Legatus chapter includes 20 founding couples.
“I think it is a pretty eclectic group of folks. A number of snowbirds, a number who are successful business operators and owners or who have sold their businesses, and several in the medical professionals and wealth management businesses,” said Eidemueller, who himself has served as president of the Jupiter-Palm Beach Legatus chapter. He is currently a member of St. Helen Parish in Vero Beach, with one of their four children attending the parish school.
Eidemueller, who credits fellow Legatus member Dennis Wierzbicki, a member of St. Joseph Parish in Stuart, with helping to establish a Legatus footprint in Vero Beach, said he first heard about Legatus in 2017 after listening to a Catholic radio program, “The Jen Fulwiler Show” on Spotify, and he subsequently reached out through their website and asked about joining.
Legatus founder Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino’s Pizza and a longtime Catholic philanthropist, was on hand Dec. 17 for the official Vero Beach chapter chartering Mass, pinning ceremony and banquet. The events were held at Holy Cross Church and Quail Valley River Club.
During a fireside chat-style conversation at the banquet, Monaghan spoke about his reasons for creating a Catholic networking forum for business leaders across the country and abroad.
“After achieving business success, I realized that faith had to be at the center of my life, not separate from it,” he said. “I founded Legatus so Catholic business leaders could support one another in living their faith openly and responsibly in the marketplace. Its purpose is to form leaders who use their influence to serve the church, strengthen their families, and be witnesses to Christ in the world.”
Monaghan also founded Ave Maria University and Ave Maria School of Law and is a past owner of the Detroit Tigers Major League Baseball team. He still owns the Domino’s Farms Office Park in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and he is in the process of selling his 30-acre estate near Ann Arbor.
Monaghan said that, as a result of his business success and his well-known Catholic identity and charity work, he soon became inundated with philanthropic proposals, which led him to conclude that his focus was best placed in supporting Catholic education and media.
Monaghan founded Legatus in 1987 to help form Catholic leaders where it might make a larger impact. Legatus is officially described as an international organization of lay executives whose mission is to study, live and spread the Catholic faith in their business, professional and personal lives.
Eidemueller, whose private-equity business invests in smaller businesses, education and training programs, curriculum for public and private schools and online learning, credits Legatus with deepening his Catholic faith.
“I personally enjoy going to all the Legatus events because you are with other people with a similar mindset and you feel comfortable and at home right away. It really deepened my faith. It is just getting Catholic couples together to listen to a speaker,” he said.
“You really get to know your fellow members, and you learn about how they approach their faith and their reading and listening habits. You think about faith more frequently and deeper by being around Catholics with a deeper commitment to their faith and about their business activity and challenges.”
The Vero group hosts monthly meetings, two annual social events with no speaker during Advent and summer seasons, under the direction of a priest chaplain, Father Thomas Barrett, pastor of Holy Cross Parish.
While many members are married, it is not a requirement. Eidemueller describes the monthly meetings as a kind of date night for couples to get out and meet with other Catholic couples, have dinner after praying the rosary, celebrating Mass and enjoying a reception with special presenters. Also on hand in Vero Beach for the Dec. 17 chartering was Stephen Henley, president of Legatus.
“Legatus has grown into a vibrant community of Catholic leaders who support one another in living out their faith boldly in every aspect of life and work,” Henley said. “Our success isn’t measured by size alone but by the way we inspire members to bring Catholic values into their businesses, families and communities, strengthening the church and transforming culture.
“In doing so, we have equipped these ambassadors for Christ to positively impact the church, our country and the broader world,” he said.
To learn more about Legatus, visit www.Legatus.org or contact Amy Dillon, vice president of development for the southeast region at adillon@legatus.org or 616-717-0060.
