Dear Editor,

Monsignor Richard Albert was an awesome human being who shared his generous heart and soul with the most needy and afflicted Jamaicans.

I have known and admired him over many years for his unfettered courage, his unrelenting conviction, and his undying commitment to the cause of the poor. It was impossible not to be impressed by the consummate ease with which he moved between the rich and the poor, the weak and the powerful.

Like so many of us, he had his weaknesses which unfortunately overcame him at times.

Monsignor Albert may well have died of a broken heart. Up to his passing, he yearned for the forgiveness of those he wronged and especially his Church.

In that regard, I was deeply moved by the homily delivered at his Mass of Christian Burial on Wednesday at the Stella Maris Church by Rev Mr Ronald Thwaites.

In a beautiful and comprehensive, thoughtful and humanly sermon, Rev Thwaites gave Fr Albert in death what he craved in life – that forgiveness which too many of us find it so hard to give. How easily we forget the biblical injunction: “Let him who is without sin, cast the first stone” – until we need it ourselves.

I am comforted by the knowledge that the vast works of goodness and the manifestation of his boundless generosity will live long after Monsignor Richard Albert.

Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, OJ, CD, Hon LLD

Chairman

ATL/Sandals Resorts International