AmP Event: DC Dominicans Install New Faculty

This Saturday the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies, where I am attending classes for my S.T.B. degree, is having two important events: a laying of the cornerstone for their new $18 million expansion and an installation Mass for their new President, Vice President and Academic Dean.

Archbishop of Washington Donald Wuerl and the Apostolic Nuncio to the U.S. Archbishop Pietro Sambi will be officiating and celebrating the events. Numerous other archbishops and bishops will be in attendance. As part of my work-study for the PFIC's Advancement Office, I have been helping to organize the event. I'll try to post a follow-up summary of the event next week.

The PFIC website has a press release:

The Dominican Friars will install new leaders at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, located in northeast Washington DC. It is one of the seven pontifical faculties of theology in the United States. The installation will be the occasion also for the solemn laying of the cornerstone of the new, $18M, academic center currently under construction. The academic center will house the Dominicans’ theological library, as well as the administrative offices and classrooms of the pontifical faculty.

Father Dominic Izzo, O.P., provincial superior of the Dominicans in Washington stated, “We are proud to be installing Dominican Fathers Steven Boguslawski, Gabriel O’Donnell and Joseph Fox as the new leaders of our pontifical faculty. The Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception has an outstanding tradition of academic quality and education. We look forward to continuing and developing its well-deserved reputation by new academic programs and strategic partnerships with other ecclesiastical institutions.”

At 4:30pm, the ceremony of laying the cornerstone to the new addition will be presided by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Vatican Ambassador to the United States. The Mass and installation will be celebrated by the Most Reverend Donald W. Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington at 5:30pm in the chapel of the Dominican House of Studies. In the evening, there will be a private reception and dinner at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center.

Father Izzo concluded, "We see the construction of the new academic center as being tangible evidence of our commitment to these new efforts. We've been doing a good job at the Dominican House of Studies for more than a hundred years, and we look forward to doing even better in the next hundred.”

Also see the biographical sketches of the new officers and the one-sheet with more information about the PFIC.

The ever-industrious Dominican Student Friars (who run an excellent website) have created a flicker slideshow with updates on the construction. Work is moving fast so the most recent pictures are already dated - just today on my way home from work I noted that the third floor is up and the brick walls are fast following.

The picture at right was probably taken about a month and a half ago. That's the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in the background. I have to admit that I'm rather envious of the people who have offices on that side of the building.

It's exciting times for the DC Dominicans. You can expect great things from them in the coming months and years, and I'll be doing my best to keep my readers updated!