The 27-year-old belongs to the Christian Fellowship For Disabled in Auckland.

Manuele has been involved in many national camps.

Last year he was a volunteer at the Centre and is now a member of the Christian Disability Trust.

Manuele has cerebral palsy.

Even as a child John 10:10 became his motivation, "live life to the fullest" or "abundantly."

He took it to mean he got to give things a go; do exciting things and not live an ordinary "disabled" life.

It was an invitation to him to push through barriers.

He never said that he was capable of doing anything, but it has been a motivation not to let his disability limit or prevent him from enjoying the best life possible.

John 10:10 instilled in him a "can do" attitude because he believes that Jesus will give him the strength to do the things God has in store for him.

He interpreted the verse as a command to live extraordinarily and to strive for the best.

As he got older and read the Bible more, the motivation to live life to the fullest that John 10:10 triggered in him did not diminish.

He believes that he can make the most of life no matter what the circumstances he finds himself in.

Driving around in a wheelchair doesn't allow him to access some places.

Having a speech impediment frustrates him when he can't talk to someone because they don't understand him.

However, he can choose not to let his troubles bog him down, but to let go and allow Jesus to bring out the best in every situation.

Supplied: Peter Mulvany

"Dan Davin is quite important in the short story scene in New Zealand. He was quite unique, in that his stories were semi-autobiographical," said Rebecca Amundsen the chairwoman of The Dan Davin Literary Foundation.

"He mainly wrote about the life of Irish Catholic people in semi-provincial towns in New Zealand, so they've got good historical value, without being actual history," Amundsen said.

Keynote speakers included literary scholar Janet Wilson, and writers Tracey Slaughter, Owen Marshall, and Dame Fiona Kidman.

Amundsen said the idea to the host the conference came as a suggestion from writer and former New Zealand Poet Laureate Vincent O'Sullivan.

"He said to me there hasn't been a conference on the New Zealand short story ever, he believed, and because we have the connection with Dan Davin, who's quite renowned for his short stories, that we should be the ones to host it."

Born in Invercargill in 1913, Davin spent most of his career in Oxford, where he first went after receiving a Rhodes Scholarship to the university in 1935.

In his fiction works, he wrote most often about New Zealand and also wrote the official history of New Zealand's war in Crete (where he had served during World War II).

He died in 1990 in Oxford.

Source

• Stuff
• Stuff
• Image: Facebook

Earlier this year he received a lifetime achievement award in Practical Theology from the Broken Bay Institute.

Arbuckle's essay, "Fundamentalism as an Enemy of the Common Good" which was published in Health Progress (Nov-Dec 2016) won first place in the Best Essay Originating with a Magazine or Newsletter: Professional and Special Interest Magazine (Including Clergy and Religious).

The judges comments were: Excellent, well written piece. Valuable citations, provocative, and persuasive.

The Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada has nearly 250 publication members and 500 individual members in the association.

Member print publications reach 10 million households plus countless others through members' websites and social media outlets.

Arbuckle was born and educated in New Zealand. After his ordination he studied philosophy in Rome and then at Cambridge University where he was trained as as social anthropologist.

In the late 1980s he began to apply anthropological insights to religious organizations.

He then concentrated on the challenges confronting faith-based healthcare systems in USA, Canada, and Australia.

He now lives in Australia where he is a consultant to private and public healthcare systems internationally on how best to maintain the original founding values of healthcare.

He is the author of close to 20 books.

Source

• Amazon
• Catholic Press Association
• Catholic Press Association awards 2017
• Image: sm.org.nz

Fr Gallagher, 76, was a former Professor of Fundamental Theology at the Gregorian University in Rome, where he was dean of the theology faculty from 2005 to 2008.

Fr Gallagher also lectured in University College, Dublin, as well as the Collegio Bellarmino in Rome.

Through contact with students in Dublin, Fr Gallagher became interested in the main topics he wrote about: Faith and unbelief, and culture and spirituality.

In 2009, he was one of the keynote speakers at the New Zealand Catholic Education Convention in Wellington.

Speaking by video-link, Fr Gallagher's 2009 talk was titled —"The Courage of our Difference: Forming a Christian Imagination".

He spoke of the key features that attract young people, and the challenge of bringing "active recognition" of the Lord.

Among his many students, he taught the Irish film directors Neil Jordan and Jim Sheridan.

While living in Paraguay, he realised that "Living with the poor, I saw that unbelief was more likely a product of life-style, than a set of ideas."

Among his many books were "Clashing Symbols" and "Free to Believe".

His funeral was held on Tuesday in Dublin.

Sources

• Irish Times
• Catholic Ireland
• Wel-com
• Plaything
• RTE
• Image: Jesuits in Ireland