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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
refugees move from China to a new life in other countries all over the world.
The Roman Catholic Church in Hong Kong is as old as the Colony itself. On the 22nd April 1841 the Prefecture Apostolic of Hong Kong was formally established and Msgr. Theodore Joset was appointed the first Prefect Apostolic. In 1874 the Prefecture was raised to the status of a Vicariate Apostolic and Msgr. Timoleon Raimondi, a member of the Pontifical Foreign Mission Institute, was consecrated Bishop and named Vicar Apostolic of Hong Kong. In 1946 the Vicariate was raised to the status of a Diocese and the Rt. Rev. Henry Valtorta, the fourth Vicar Apostolic, became the first Diocesan Bishop of Hong Kong. Since 1951 Bishop Lawrence Bianchi, D.D., P.I.M.E. has been the Ordinary of the Diocese.
The territory of the Diocese includes the Crown Colony of Hong Kong and the Districts of Hoiphong, Po On, and Wai Yeung, on the mainland of China. The Diocese is entrusted to the Pontifical Foreign Mission Institute who have been in Hong Kong since the year 1858.
At present there are in Hong Kong 59 members of the Pontifical Foreign Mission Institute, 53 secular priests, and 202 priests and 103 Brothers belonging to 14 different religious congregations and representing 25 nationalities. There are also working in Hong Kong 580 Sisters, belonging to 20 different congregations: of this number 258 are Chinese.
In the Colony the Church is divided into 21 parishes in Hong Kong and Kowloon, and 10 rural districts in the New Territories. Besides the 21 parish churches, there are 7 public chapels in Hong Kong and Kowloon, and 33 churches and chapels in the New Territories.
The Catholic population, according to the census taken on 30th June 1958, numbers 131,698; there are in addition 14,334 catechumens.
The Church operates 150 schools in 76 buildings with a total enrolment of 71,112 pupils. Among these schools there are 23 Kindergartens, 71 Primary Schools, 24 Secondary Schools, 6 Industrial or Professional Schools, and 26 Night Schools.