Father Boguslawski Installed as
Sacred Heart Major Seminary's Eleventh Rector/President

At a Mass and ceremony on Sunday, September 21, 2003, Adam Cardinal Maida, archbishop of Detroit, formally installed Fr. Steven Boguslawski, OP, as the eleventh rector/president of Sacred Heart Major Seminary.

Father Boguslawski had assumed the duties of rector/president on May 1, 2003, when he replaced previous rector Bishop Allen Vigneron, who left the seminary to become coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Oakland (Calif.). Father Boguslawski served as Sacred Heart's Dean of Studies prior to becoming rector.

In his homily during the installation Mass in the seminary's main chapel, Cardinal Maida cited the qualities a seminary leader should have. He should possess "integrity, honesty and perseverance"; he should be a "man of vision and hope"; and he should be "attentive to the thoughts and suggestions of others." Father Boguslawski "is just this kind of a leader," said the cardinal.

After the cardinal's homily, Father Boguslawski made a solemn Oath of Fidelity, pledging to uphold all the doctrines the Roman Catholic Church professes and teaches. Cardinal Maida offered to the seminary community and the entire archdiocese the example of the new rector as a "model of obedience and self-sacrifice."

"From my earliest memories, I have always loved the Church," said Father Boguslawski in his remarks after Communion. "Theological education and priestly formation are my passions in life," he explained. "I am grateful for God's call that I should live and work here." A Dominican friar of the St. Joseph Province, Washington, D.C., Father particularly thanked his provincial, Fr. Dominic Izzo, OP, for granting him temporary leave from his Dominican religious community in order "to serve the larger Church."

The chapel was full of well-wishers for the installation Mass, including Father Izzo, Father Boguslawski's mother Mrs. Mary Boguslawski and sister Mrs. Patricia Lockwood, Bishop Vigneron, Sr. Rose Marie Kujawa, president of Madonna University in Livonia, Dr. Ronald Muller, president of Ave Maria University in Ypsilanti, Mr. George Dann, Knights of Columbus Michigan state deputy, and a number of priests from the Archdiocese of Detroit and Dominican friars from the St. Joseph Province.

Father Boguslawski, age 47, was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, and raised in Thomaston. His family lived for a time in Romulus, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. He holds a number of academic degrees, including a Ph.D. from Yale University.