NOTE: Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy’s academic-program management and Catholic sponsorship is by the Marist Fathers.
The Federation of Alliances Françaises of New Zealand has announced recently that the Reverend Father Mervyn Duffy, s.m., a lecturer in theology and dean of studies at the Good Shepherd College in New Zealand, has been awarded the John Dunmore Medal for the year 2016.
“Through his research and publications, Fr. Duffy has made an important contribution to knowledge of the early Marist missionaries in the Pacific,” read a press release by Alliances Française. “Besides theological articles in various publications, he has been a key figure in organizing the translation into English of the earliest letters written by the French Marist missionaries who came to New Zealand and Western Oceania between 1836 and 1854.”
According to AF, the translations have been posted online, creating a valuable resource for historians and the wider public.
Duffy also is co-author with Fr. Alois Greiler of “Verguet’s Sketchbook, A Marist Missionary Artist in 1840s Oceania” (Hindmarsh: ATF Press, 2014), a significant album of landscapes, people, birds and plants observed by Léopold Verguet (1817-1914), a priest who served in the Solomon Islands (1845-47) and visited New Zealand and New Caledonia as a missionary.
The John Dunmore Medal is awarded annually in recognition of major contributions to knowledge and better understanding of the part played by the French people and French culture in the scientific, economic, historical and cultural development of the Pacific.
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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." The Marist Fathers and Brothers sponsor NDPMA's Catholic identity and manages its educational program. Notre Dame is accredited by the National Association of Independent Schools, 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.