Roman Catholic Archbishop Joseph Harris says the Catholic Church has not yet received the $2.2 million promised by the Government for bringing “Christmas cheer” to the less fortunate. In an interview yesterday, Harris said a representative of the Catholic Church had attended a function at the Diplomatic Centre last month and was given a voucher for $2.2 million.
“I enquired what the money was for and I was told it was to bring Christmas cheer to the poor,” said Harris. He said he then asked the St Vincent de Paul Society, which runs 19 homes across T&T, to ensure each home had a good Christmas meal and to bring the bills to Archbishop’s House. He said the homes had complied and had already started sending bills to Archbishop’s House, though he added a final figure had not yet been calculated.
“If there is money left over after we calculated how much was spent, I will ask the Government what to do with the rest of it. “If it was simply for Christmas cheer then we would have to give the rest of the money back,” Harris added. He said, so far, the church had used its own funds to cover the costs incurred by St Vincent de Paul.
“I have been informed that we should expect the cheque from the Government on Friday (tomorrow) at a meeting,” Harris said. The Roman Catholic Church has 62 parishes in T&T, with 125 worship centres and is the country’s largest church. It is undertaking a major funding drive to restore the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Independence Square, Port-of-Spain.