Watch the amazing presentation of this year's 2024 New York Encounter theme accompanied by Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete’s clarity, prescience, and wit, with Cardinal Seán O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, Jakub Grygiel, professor of politics, Catholic University of America, Fr. Ryan Mann, pastor of St. Basil the Great Parish, Cleveland, moderated by Stephen Sanchez, president of the Albacete Forum.

Enjoy the video and share with friends…because he expects nothing less!

2024 marks the 10th anniversary of the death of our beloved friend, Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete. The Albacete Forum continues its work to preserve his legacy and ensure that Lorenzo’s wit and wisdom lives on for posterity.

We are beginning preparations for a 10th Anniversary Pilgrimage to Lorenzo’s native Puerto Rico on November 7-10, 2024.  Both as opportunity to visit his grave and share in our companionship as his friends, it is also promised to be quite the zany adventure visiting Monsignor’s favorite spots on his beloved island.  Be sure to drop a line to olivetta@albaceteforum.org so we can “pencil you in” to receive more information.

There are more Albacete books and events to come, especially at the 2024 New York Encounter! We invite you to follow and participate in the activities of the Forum—and ask for your continued financial support.

Please consider making a gift in honor of Monsignor’s anniversary and help us to continue the work of the Albacete Forum for years to come. Let’s all do our part to keep alive the memory and legacy of our dear friend, Lorenzo.

Stephen Sanchez
President, The Albacete Forum

The experience of suffering has posed a profound existential challenge to human hearts and minds throughout history. But it has become especially problematic in our time, when, with our good intentions and technological prowess, we seek to relieve the suffering of our patients at any cost, while in the end reducing the fullness of their personhood.

What we have failed to grasp is that the one who suffers yearns not only for relief from pain but a response to the deep-seated questions that suffering provokes.

Cry of the Heart is the late Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete's incisive and heartfelt look at what the experience of suffering reveals to each of us. He draws upon insights from literary figures such as Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy, and Elie Wiesel; adds the wisdom of Saints John Paul II and Padre Pio; and engages our own everyday human experience. Albacete challenges caretakers and friends to co-suffer with those in distress, by not only treating their mental and physical symptoms, but also participating in their questions in a relationship directed to the redemptive love of the Mystery who makes us.

In addition to a foreword by Albacete's close friend, Cardinal Seán O'Malley, Cry of the Heart also includes a newly-researched biographical essay about the author that provides surprising insights into the man and his work.

Manuel Albacete 1947 - 2022

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It is with heavy hearts that we pass on the news of the death of Manuel Albacete, the beloved younger brother of Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete. You can read about the important role Manuel played in the life of Lorenzo in John Touhey’s excellent biography in the final chapter of Cry of the Heart.

About Lorenzo Albacete Cintrón

As a priest, theologian, newspaper columnist, and former aerospace researcher, Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete made a decisive contribution to Christianity in America as it faced the challenges and opportunities posed by a new millennium. A close friend and confidante of St. John Paul II, Albacete was an expert on that pontiff’s Theology of the Body. His lively teaching helped to influence a new generation of young Catholic thinkers and catechists. 

With disarming wit and sweeping intelligence, Albacete engaged with and befriended women and men of every religious background and professional interest, including doctors, artists, scientists, and journalists. Through his televised appearances on PBS, CNN, and The Charlie Rose Show, Albacete proved to be a persuasive voice for the Gospel even in the most trying circumstances. A proud native of Puerto Rico, Lorenzo Albacete also remained a fervent advocate for the Hispanic presence in the Catholic Church throughout his life.

For more about the life of our beloved Monsignor, watch The Albacete Show!

Our Mission

The Albacete Forum seeks to preserve and extend Lorenzo Albacete's legacy through a series of initiatives, beginning with the collection, archiving and publication of his collected works. Albacete's insights on faith, culture, education, and other topics will be brought to new audiences through books, e-publications, and online offerings.

We will continue Lorenzo Albacete’s legacy by reopening dialogues he began with scientists, cultural figures, and others who pursue truth, beauty, and justice. Inspired by Albacete’s characteristic honesty and rigor in front of reality, his sense of humor, and his preference for lived experience over theory, The Albacete Forum will host public events, seminars, and online discussions that revisit Albacete’s work by looking at the most urgent problems and questions we face today.

Like our namesake, The Albacete Forum also values the Hispanic presence in the Catholic Church, which we will strive to support through scholarship funds, grants, and other efforts. 

We invite you to become part of The Albacete Forum!

Contact us to join the hunt for undiscovered Albacete materials or to find out more about our activities. You can also support The Albacete Forum by participating in Forum events, exploring Lorenzo Albacete’s life and works, and offering your financial support. Your contributions are tax deductible.