Adam Cardinal Maida, Archbishop of Detroit, has named Fr. Steven Boguslawski, OP, as the eleventh rector and president of Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit, Michigan. Father Boguslawski, a Dominican friar of the St. Joseph Province, Washington, D.C., has served Sacred Heart as its Dean of Studies since July 2001. He replaces Bishop Allen Vigneron, whom the Holy Father named coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Oakland in January.

Father Boguslawski's four-year term begins May 1, 2003.

"It is my intention to build upon the very solid foundation of what Bishop Vigneron–and Bishop Nienstedt before him–have accomplished," says Father Boguslawski. "We have the leadership and strong support of Cardinal Maida to develop the seminary into 'the signature institution of theological education' in the Midwest. We have a faith-filled, highly credentialed faculty. We have students eager to learn what the Church teaches, and zealous for the New Evangelization.

"We have a very, very good thing, indeed."

Father Boguslawski is committed to training candidates for the priesthood and for lay ecclesial ministry with the "mind of the Church" and superior pastoral skills. He has also pledged "to make Sacred Heart an even stronger central educational and pastoral resource for the archdiocesan presbyterate." Father wants the seminary to continue to be a resource of service for the local urban community. At the same time, he will be reaching out to the larger Catholic educational community.

"We will be pursuing institutional strategic alliances that will make the seminary known for its scholarship and for its pastoral charity," he says.

Some of the projects Father Boguslawski has initiated under the leadership of Cardinal Maida and Bishop Vigneron include creating a Distinguished Visiting Chair for Faculty Development, and developing a Pontifically-approved Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) degree program. The program will utilize distance learning "smart classroom" technology in collaboration with a consortium of Catholic seminaries and universities nationwide.

Under Father's leadership, Sacred Heart will be sponsoring in November a national symposium on ecclesiology, "A Call to Holiness and Communion: Vatican II and the Church." It will be held at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C., and will feature presentations by renowned scholars and Church leaders.

Father Boguslawski is eminently qualified to assume the rectorship of Sacred Heart. He holds a BA and MA degree from Providence College, Rhode Island; an M.Div., STB and STL from the Dominican House of Studies, Washington, D.C.; and an STM, MA, M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Yale University. Prior to his position at Sacred Heart as academic dean, he was vice president and academic dean of the Dominican House of Studies, assistant professor of New Testament at Providence College, and instructor of New Testament at the Dominican House of Studies.

In 1981, Father Boguslawski made his profession with the Dominican Order of the Province of St. Joseph. He was ordained a priest in 1987.

Cardinal Maida was pleased to announce Father Boguslawski's assignment, calling him "a theologian of national repute." Says the cardinal, "Father has served us well for the past two years as dean of studies and is familiar with the faculty, students, programs and initiatives at the seminary. I am grateful to his provincial for allowing him to come here and move into this new appointment."

Fr. Patrick Halfpenny, interim rector of Sacred Heart, will remain on as vice rector, a position he held under Bishop Vigneron.

"Father Boguslawski brings a wealth of experience, and already knows the Sacred Heart community intimately," Father Halfpenny says. "Among the many other fine reasons for his appointment, there will be a continuity in regards to the major goals already set."

Father Boguslawski, age 46, was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, and raised in Thomaston. His family lived for a time in Romulus, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit.