c. 1996 Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY (RNS)-The metaphor seemed inescapable. The pope was borrowing from Peter to pay homage to Paul.

Or at least that’s how it appeared on Thursday (May 30), as Pope John Paul II blessed a piece of stone from the tomb of St. Peter the Apostle, the first pope, that will become the cornerstone of a $30 million cultural center to be built in Washington, D.C., and that will bear John Paul’s name.

About 150 people, including Cardinal Adam Joseph Maida of Detroit, the prime mover in the drive to create the center, attended the blessing of the stone, which is the size of a small brick and was taken from the tomb directly below the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica.

The new facility, to be called the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, will be lodged on a 14-acre site next to the Catholic University of America and near the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, one of the capital’s most popular tourist attractions.”The Pope John Paul II Cultural Center is an initiative which has been inspired from the beginning by the desire to create a center in which the teachings of the bishops of Rome, the successors of the Apostle Peter, will be studied, discussed and disseminated,”John Paul said in remarks prepared for the 45-minute ceremony.”It is not to be a monument to any one person, even if it bears his name, but to the centrality and continuity of the Petrine ministry in the church,”John Paul said, a reference to the Catholic Church’s belief that the papacy began with St. Peter.

Construction of the cultural center, which can be compared to a presidential library in that it will draw both tourists and scholars, is scheduled to begin in 1997.

Construction is expected to cost $30 million, according to the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center Foundation, headed by Maida. Efforts are under way to raise an additional $30 million to endow the center’s operation. The money for construction and operations is being raised through private donations. The foundation said approximately $18 million has been collected so far.

The center complex will include a series of pavilions arranged to enclose a courtyard inspired by Vatican gardens. The pavilions will include a museum, a library, research facilities and a”great hall.”There also will be a”prayer for peace alcove”that Center publicity said will provide a quiet sanctuary in which pilgrims, tourists and scholars can pray or meditate.

At the heart of the center’s mission is the idea that it will be a place where the cultural and sociological implications of Catholic values, especially as found in papal teaching, are studied.

John Paul has made the issue of the relationship of Catholic faith to diverse cultures a central theme of his 17-year papacy, arguing that the church should be enriched by local cultures and traditions while also saying that Christianity is a counter-cultural faith.

He returned to that theme again Thursday.”Today the world’s cultures interact in a way which challenges those who preach the Christian message to consider and understand more deeply the human, social context within which people strive for fulfillment,”he said.

While focusing on the writings of John Paul, the center will seek to place his message in the context of the nearly 2,000-year history of the papacy and its role in Western culture.”The teachings of the Roman pontiffs are an integral part of the development of the church’s understanding of her own nature and mission in the world, and whatever is done to deepen knowledge of that patrimony, and to communicate it, constitutes a very valuable service to God’s people,”the pope said.”Through its programs of research and study, as a public forum and as a resource for scholars, the center will seek to make a specific contribution to Catholic intellectual life.” The museum and library will contain books and memorabilia of John Paul’s life and travels as well as other printed materials, videos, art objects and other items related to the history of the papacy.

Maida said he hoped the center”will build on the rich traditions of our diversity while at the same time help us to appreciate the essentials which unite us.”We pray that the center will be a catalyst for evangelization within our country and, indeed, throughout the world. We envision the center serving as an international forum for dialogue between cultures and the various religious denominations.”

MJP END RNS