Priests can accept political donations in kind

MANILA, Philippines - Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales yesterday reminded Catholic parishes and officials not to accept cash donations from politicians but they could get items like clothes for their fund-raising project.

Rosales said there is nothing wrong if Caritas Manila, the social-arm of the Manila Archdiocese, will accept secondhand items like used clothes from politicians for its Segunda Mana program, which is also known as Caritas in Kind, a fund-raising project that collects items a person doesn’t need – used or unused – which have value and may be sold.

“There’s nothing wrong with that. The problem with us is we tend to generalize that all politicians are bad,” Rosales said in an interview with Church-run Radio Veritas. “Not all politicians are bad.”

Rosales also urged the public to donate to Caritas Manila items they think they no longer need.

“If you have something that you no longer use, just donate it to Segunda Mana,” Rosales said.

The bishop said that this is one way of showing love for others.

“The proceeds of this will help fund Caritas Manila’s different programs for the poor from scholarship to livelihood among others,” said Rosales.

Segunda Mana accepts the following items: old or used items that still have value, new items that you don’t need or have too much of, damaged items that are still repairable, old stocks, stocks for disposal, non-moving inventories of companies.