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Grand Master of Order of Malta accepts honorary doctorate from ACU

Australian Catholic University (ACU) has awarded an Honorary Doctorate to the Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, His Most Eminent Highness Fra' John T. Dunlap, in recognition of his service to the Catholic Church.

The Canadian-born lawyer is the 81st Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta. The Order of Malta is the oldest lay religious order in the Catholic Church, consisting of more than 13,500 Knights, Dames and chaplains.

The Honorary Doctorate was conferred on Fra' Dunlap following a lecture at ACU's North Sydney Campus. The ceremony coincides with his first visit to Australia as Grand Master to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Australian Association of the Order of Malta.

"He has been one of the leading voices in the Order of Malta across the globe in ensuring that the Order of Malta stays true to its charism reflected in its motto 'Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum' (witnessing the faith, helping the poor).

"This commitment of service to the poor and marginalised is in line with ACU's mission as a university that seeks to uphold the dignity of all and advance the common good - and particularly for those individuals and communities on the margins.

"The awarding of an Honorary Doctorate to Frá John Dunlap not only recognises Frá Dunlap's significant and on-going commitment to the Gospel and the mission of the Church, but also reflects the mission and values that ACU, as a Catholic university, wishes to instil in its staff and students."

In his lecture address on November 4, Fra' Dunlap explained the Order of Malta's role as "a global vehicle to bring Christ to the poor and sick".

Yet despite having a presence on every continent in the world, Fra' Dunlap said the Order of Malta's 1000-years-long history was still relatively unknown.

"With the constant grace of the Holy Spirit, the Order has repeatedly renewed and transformed itself in the course of its almost 1,000-year history," Fra' Dunlap said.

"Today's Order, in certain respects, would be unrecognisable to Knights from the 12th to 19th centuries. Yet in other respects, the Order would be a familiar home to Hospitallers of bygone ages."

Throughout the centuries, the Order of Malta's humanitarian works have expanded across the world, creating one of the world's most fascinating histories of any charitable organisation.

But the Order's lengthy history has more to do with its future than its past, Fra' Dunlap said.

"It may seem a bit of a paradox that a 1,000-year-old institution has its eyes trained firmly on the future, not on the past," Fra' Dunlap said.

"One might think that, with such a storied history, the Order would find its direction in tradition, its future in its past.

"But in a certain sense, the very reason that the Order of Malta counts itself among the oldest religious Orders in the church, is precisely because it has always focused on the future: modern by tradition, and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Order has largely been able to discern the sign of the times.

"This discernment has resulted, at certain points in the Order's history, in minor adjustments to the institution and, at others, in whole-scale changes to meet both the challenges of the day and those of tomorrow."

Fra' Dunlap first encountered the Order of Malta in the mid-1980s while volunteering at the Cardinal Cooke Medical Center in Harlem, New York, which cares for patients suffering from AIDS and other diseases. Fra Dunlap continues to volunteer weekly at Cardinal Cooke Health Care Centre.

Born in Ottawa, Canada, he is a member of the New York State Bar and Ontario Bar Association. An internationally respected lawyer, he has been legal adviser to the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations since 1997.

Since 2021, ACU and the Australian Association of the Order of Malta have partnered on the university's expanding community outreach program, including the establishment of ACU and Order of Malta Community Hub.

The Hub provides community-engaged outreach for residents in the City of Darebin in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. It has launched several pilot programs, including a Mobile Community Café and Community Garden for residents of a public housing estate in inner-city Melbourne, a one-on-one literacy program, and nutrition and cooking workshops for newly arrived families from Syria, including a school holiday program for Syrian migrant children.

ACU historian Associate Professor Darius von Guttner is also leading a global research project with the Order of Malta which will produce an online formation program for the Order's members worldwide.