CENTERS AND ACADEMY

The aim of the American Academy of Catholic Scholars and Artists (“Academy” or “AACSA”) is to identify, connect, support and cultivate an elite group of Catholic scholars and artists who comprise the intellectual leadership of the Catholic Church in America, are dedicated to exploring questions in the Catholic intellectual and artistic traditions, and seek to engage the modern world in the Church’s universal call to holiness.

Created to foster the renewal of Catholic theology, the Aquinas Center is invested in a wide variety of projects both within and outside of Ave Maria University. With the help of scholars from colleges and universities around the world, the center seeks to contribute to the development of a vibrant theological renaissance.

Assisting students across all majors, the Entrepreneurial Initiative Center fosters skills in the science of association: project-creation, problem-solving and collective action. These skills are essential to a life of leadership, prosperity, service and good citizenship. The larger community also benefits from the intentional creation of social capital and the spirit of entrepreneurship fostered in these students. As Alexis de Tocqueville observed, “In democratic societies, the science of association is the mother science; the progress of all the rest depends upon the progress it has made.”

The Center for Catholic Citizenship advances the study, renewal, and advancement of citizenship enlivened by fidelity to the Catholic Church and the principles of the American founding. The Center prepares undergraduates for constructive and practical engagement in political life by promoting a civic education that explores the historical and moral underpinnings of republican and constitutional government as well as the rights of persons, especially as these relate to religion, speech, and property.