DiscoverCatholic University of AmericaThe Institute for Human Ecology
The Institute for Human Ecology
Catholic University of America
The Institute for Human Ecology (IHE) is a community of advanced study and liberal learning dedicated to the scientific understanding of man as the “center and crown” of nature, made in the image of God, whose “interior qualities outstrip the sum of mere things.” (Gaudium et Spes 12, 14) The Institute cultivates an ethos of freedom and truth seeking unobstructed by rationalist accounts of human nature, for when “God is forgotten, the creature grows itself unintelligible,” and “only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light.” (Gaudium et Spes 36, 22). Taking wisdom, humility, and charity for her patron virtues, the Institute strives to foster open dialogue, intellectual friendship, and moral clarity, “for the human person deserves to be preserved, and human society deserves to be renewed.” (Gaudium et Spes 3) Drawing on the Catholic intellectual tradition, the IHE educates students, sponsors multidisciplinary research, advises Church leadership, and organizes symposia, conferences, and lectures for the academy and the public square. IHE programs challenge the materialistic and reductionist worldviews of institutions, policy-makers, and opinion-formers that stand in the way of prosperity and human dignity.