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December 19, 2019

Church will accept $100 notes until midnight Dec 31

Archbishop Jason Gordon holds to the position that old $100 notes will be accepted in collections up to midnight December 31, Old Year’s night.

He has proposed that the “best thing” to give up for Old Year’s is your old $100 notes into collection.

In the final 2019 instalment of Ask the Archbishop live chat, last Wednesday, Catholic Media Services Limited’s (CAMSEL) Digital Media Manager Tracy Chimming-Lewis brought to the Archbishop’s attention concerns expressed about the stringent deadline for tendering of old $100 notes.

Archbishop Gordon explained “because people are going to land up on the 31st of December with old $100 bills which is still legal tender on the 31st of December. It still is. And there’s no reason they should not be putting it into our baskets…” he said.

At the post Cabinet media briefing on December 5, Minister of National Security Stuart Young announced the demonetisation of the $100 note and introduction of polymer notes with new security features and designed to assist the blind.

The move was in response to money laundering, tax evasion, counterfeiting, and other criminal activity. The new note was officially launched Monday, December 9 by Central Bank Governor Dr Alvin Hilaire.

Archbishop Gordon mentioned that the Archdiocese will “submit” the old $100 notes to the bank on the first working day of 2020.

“So, you don’t worry…if you are left with old bills, don’t go and line up in a bank and sweat yourself out…. because no, no, we want to save you all of that. Just hold it for Christmas Day, hold it for New Year’s Day and you give us a gift for Christmas,” he said.

The Archbishop also spoke of having discussions with priests last Thursday on how to manage this.

In hindsight, he observed that sometimes things are done from one perspective, in this instance, from a finance security position. While he said he understood the “problems” there, he ultimately proposed a pastoral perspective.

To this end, he agreed with Chimming-Lewis’ sentiments that “we are a work in progress…we are not perfect”, to which he responded, “We learning, we learning…”—KJ