MONTEGO BAY, St James – Abusive parents and New Age ideologists, whose relationship with the Almighty lack the personal touch, were chief among those targeted in a stirring homily on the true concept of love delivered by Bishop Howard Gregory yesterday.

Church-going homosexuals and sloppy dressers were also chided and put before the Almighty by retired Seventh-Day Adventist pastor, Lester Thomas, who prayed for mercy and forgiveness.

Speaking at the Montego Bay Prayer Breakfast Group’s 19th annual morning social, Gregory, the Anglican Bishop of Montego Bay, lamented the reality of mothers who abused their babies by overdosing them with laxatives in order to afford themselves the opportunity to go sporting; stepfathers and other family members who abused children sexually and otherwise by burning their fingers as a punishment for telling lies.

“…I have spent the time so far focusing on the children,” said Bishop Gregory. “I believe that this is one of the greatest areas of challenge facing us when we begin to talk about love in action… first it is in the earliest years of a person’s life that an individual learns what it is to love… that learning comes out of the interaction with nurturing others, primarily maternal figures who out of the consistency of quality of affection they offer their children teach them how it is to be a person of worth, a person that is loved and in so doing instill in them the capacity to love.”

Inviting the patrons of the prayer breakfast on a scriptural exploration, which spanned the old and new testaments of the Bible, Gregory pointed out that love from a Christian perspective could not exist exclusively of the Almighty or mankind. Condemning the culture of narcissism and self-fulfilment, which seeks to undermine religious institutions, Gregory pointed out that these perspectives served to distort the true concept of love.

“The love of God is non-existent without the love of neighbour,” he reiterated.

The prayer breakfast, which was staged at the Holiday Inn Sunspree resort in Montego Bay under the theme ‘Love in Action’, gave the many members of the public who turned up to patronise it, an opportunity to reflect on the existing reasons to be thankful.

Master craftsman, Llewellyn Welds, and the late Richard Stuart Crichton, who died last year, were both honoured with citations at the event, which also gave patrons the opportunity to contribute cash to a charity. According to the group, which is chaired by JP Enel Brydson, $50,000 was collected at last year’s event. This will

be handed over to the Good

Shepherd Foundation.