In the town of Ave Maria, parents need not worry about which school their children will attend. The town has been built for Roman Catholics and all the schools guarantee a traditional Catholic upbringing.

The daily school run through this newly established enclave, funded by a Catholic billionaire and built on a slice of rural Florida that used to be a tomato farm, takes mums and dads along roads with names such as Anthem Parkway and Annunciation Street.

In Ave Maria, which opens its gates to the public today, there are morals to be upheld and souls to be saved, and the biggest secular temptation will probably prove to be the local ice-cream parlour.

Students at the town’s schools and its Catholic university, the first to be built in the US for more than 40 years, will be housed in single-sex halls of residence and encouraged to partake in more wholesome extracurricular activities than the usual late-night binge drinking and dormitory trysts – such as visiting the chapels attached to every block.

The roads will supposedly be clean and safe, the schools graffiti-free and disciplined, and the residents kind and sharing. “It is to be a true community, where neighbours care about neighbours, friendships span generations, and a sense of pride is felt by every resident, student and worker,” the sugary marketing spiel promises.

Visitors are meant to feel God’s presence in the design. The town’s focal point is a spectacular church that will ultimately house the nation’s biggest crucifix, 65 feet (20m) tall, complete with an image of the bleeding Christ in stained glass. Faith, worship and clean living are at the town’s family-friendly core.

“God’s been good to me. The best way I can use the resources God gave me is to help other people get to heaven,” said Tom Monaghan, 70, a devout Catholic who sold his Domino’s pizza empire for $1 billion (£500 million) and spent about half the proceeds on creating his perfect town.

Cynics liken the artificiality of Ave Maria to that of Seahaven, a fake town depicted in the 1998 film The Truman Show, or to Celebration, a Florida community created by the Walt Disney Company in 1994 that markets itself as “a place that takes you back to that time of innocence . . . A place of caramel apples and cotton candy”.

Others condemn Monaghan’s pious-ness as pomposity and brand some of his civic guidelines – such as his request to shops not to stock contra-ceptives or pornography – as a threat to the constitutional separation of Church and State. “We’re watching carefully because it’s likely that he still desires to create a town in which there’s a fusion of governmental and religious policies,” said Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.

Concerns include whether schools in Ave Maria will teach children about evolution or only the Catholic Church’s favoured theory of creationism; what doctors at its hospital will do if a woman needs an abortion for health reasons; and whether doctors will honour a patient’s written wish not to be kept alive artificially.

And what will happen when the first gay couple moves in? “The town is open to everybody and the people running it couldn’t control those things even if they wanted to,” said Mike O’Shea, 40, who moved to Ave Maria two months ago with his wife, Cecilia, 40, and three young daughters. “Anyone that wants good schools and a safe neighbourhood and a good quality of life can come to live here.”

Ideal homes

— The total area of Ave Maria is 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares), of which approximately 20 per cent will form the university campus

— Although only 11,000 residences are to be built, Ave Maria will also feature three commercial areas, allowing all residents to walk or cycle to amenities

— About 45 per cent of the town by area will be given over to open spaces, lakes and parks

— The university will enrol 650 students in its first year but plans eventually to house 5,000

Sources: www.avemariadistrict.com; www.avemaria.com