Yesterday’s festivities at the Church of Scientology building in Dupont Circle.

The Fraser Mansion at the corner of Connecticut Avenue, R Street and 20th Street NW is better known as the D.C. home of the Church of Scientology, but as of yesterday it has taken on a bigger purpose: it will serve as the church’s national affairs office. According to a church statement, the new national affairs office will serve to facilitate implementation of the Church-sponsored programs both nationally and internationally.

But as the Village Voice reported yesterday, the inauguration—which was attended by Mr. David Miscavige, Scientology’s de facto leader, and three members of Congress—comes at a tough time for the controversial group:

It was on Monday that folks outside of New York were finally able to pick up a copy of the October issue of Vanity Fair, which contains a devastating expose of the way Miscavige, with the help of his wife Shelly, helped choose a mate for Tom Cruise in 2004 by auditioning young Scientologist actresses. And Maureen Orth’s lengthy article is about much more than that, delving into many of Scientology’s serious problems, many of which we’ve been covering here at the Voice for the last couple of years.

This is also the week that Paul Thomas Anderson’s highly anticipated Scientology-inspired film The Master opens in limited release (it opens wide next week). The media interest in this film has been intense, but now the public finally gets a chance to see it, and no doubt many will go online to look for more information about the actual historical figure behind Philip Seymour Hoffman’s colorful con man, “Lancaster Dodd.”

If this seems an odd time to play for national attention, keep in mind, this is the church which days ago made public a collection of letters sent by its attorneys in an attempt to intimidate Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter. The letters are disastrous PR, and didn’t work anyway — Carter printed Orth’s story despite Scientology’s ham-fisted threats of legal action.

The church’s office in Dupont Circle was the target of protests led by the group Anonymous in 2008. The following year, the church opened up a second outpost on 16th Street.