Peter Chanel was acknowledged as a martyr in 1889 and canonized in 1954 by Pope Pius XII.
“The SPCS dinner is another wonderful opportunity for our school community to get together to share in all the blessings that is Notre Dame,” said Atif Lodhi, NDPMA’s Notre Dame Fund director. “The dinner is just a small token of the school’s gratitude for what our most supportive donors do for the school. It’s also a chance to revisit our overall mission as well as to see how SPCS members are making such a critical impact into the lives of our students.”
Named for one of two Marist saints, NDPMA’s St. Peter Chanel Society (SPCS) is comprised of donors who have provided annual gifts to The Notre Dame Fund ranging from $1,000 to more than $35,000. All SPCS members are considered part of the school’s donor leadership society.
SPCS members come together for dinner each fall to celebrate the year’s success and hear an address from a Notre Dame student and from NDPMA’s administration about the “state of school.”
Last year’s St. Peter Chanel Society dinner also was held at Andiamo Italia in Warren.
Father Peter Chanel was one of an early group of Catholic missionaries to the Southwest Pacific who set out from France in December 1836. The group was destined to found the Catholic Church in Western Oceania and New Zealand. Father Chanel and a Marist catechist, Brother Marie-Nizier, lived on the island of Futuna, north of the Fijian Islands, and labored there for three years.
In 1841, Peter Chanel was killed by a group of warriors incited by the leading chief of Futuna, in hatred of the faith that threatened his control over the people.
Peter Chanel was acknowledged as a martyr in 1889 and canonized in 1954 by Pope Pius XII. As a foundation member of the Society of Mary, Peter Chanel is acknowledged by the wider Marist family, including the Marist Sisters (Peter Chanel had a sister in this congregation), and indeed all of the Marists worldwide in Australia, Europe, Mexico, New Zealand, Oceania and North America.
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is sponsored by the Marist Fathers and Brothers of the USA Province.
For more information about the St. Peter Chanel Society or The Notre Dame Fund, contact Atif Lodhi at alodhi@ndpma.org or 248-373-2171. Visit the fund page at ndpma.org/ndfund.
Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org.
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.