Washington D.C., Aug 1, 2006 / 22:00 pm

The Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C., has a new interim director. Fr. Steven Boguslawski, a Dominican priest, began in his new post Aug. 1st. The 50-year-old cleric had served as rector of Detroit’s Sacred Heart Major Seminary since 2003.

Having concluded his tenure at Detroit’s seminary, Fr. Boguslawski was assigned to his new post after conversation with the Eastern province Dominicans and the directors of the Center.  Fr. Boguslawski will also become regent of studies for the St. Joseph Province, a roll which he will conduct from the Dominican House of Studies. Both the Cultural Center and the House of Studies sit on the edge of The Catholic University of America.  Fr. Boguslawski’s will remain at the JP II Cultural Center while a search continues for a long-term director.

The Pope John Paul II Cultural Center opened in the spring of 2001. It was established to foster greater understanding among people of different religious, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds through art, cultural programs, and study. Cardinal Adam Maida of Detroit is the president of the center and chairman of its 13-member board of directors.

"The engagement of faith and culture is at the heart of the New Evangelization and emphasizes Christian freedom and responsibility,” said Fr. Boguslawski. “Pope John Paul II challenged the Church in the U.S. to focus considerable energy on this dialogue.”

In collaboration with the bishops who oversee the center, the priest said he would like to see the center “engage an array of strategic partnerships fulfilling its mission with ever greater scope and intensity for the service of the whole Church.”

Fr. Boguslawski was ordained to the priesthood in 1987, and has been a professed member of the Dominicans since 1981. He holds a number of graduate degrees, including two master’s degrees and a PhD from Yale University, as well as a STB and STL from the Dominican House of Studies.

He is currently on the executive committee of the Midwest Association of Theological Schools and a member of the board of advisors of the English edition of the international theological journal Nova et Vetera.