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RELIGION
of Churches, and thus keeps its members in touch with the thought and development of oecumenical Christianity, as well as with the welfare activities of the World Church through Inter-Church Aid. An important Consultation on Asian Inter-Church Aid was held at To Fung Shan, Sha Tin, in October, under the auspices of the East Asia Christian Conference. The Hong Kong Christian Council also sponsors many inter-church committees on such subjects as Christian citizenship, education, industry, family life, Christian literature and Church planning. It is now working, in particular, on two major projects, a Christian centre in Kowloon and a united Protestant Hospital.
There are some Church groups that prefer to maintain their independence from this link with the World Council of Churches. The majority of the Baptist Churches, which represent one of the most rapidly-growing of the major world-wide communions, are a case in point. In Hong Kong they run a number of excellent schools, at both primary and secondary levels, together with the post-secondary Baptist College. Recently they have opened the much-appreciated Baptist Hospital at the north end of Waterloo Road. The Adventist Mission also operates several schools, and does some medical work in addition to its Church work. The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons) have come to Hong Kong from the United States during the last few years and are conducting mission work in the Colony. There is a Christian Science Church on Hong Kong Island.
Most of the Christian Churches are involved in programmes of relief and welfare work in the Colony. (Details of some of the activi- ties of both the Protestant Churches and of the Roman Catholic Church in this field will be found in chapters 9 and 11).
The Roman Catholic Church has been established in the Colony for the last 122 years. From the outset its growth as an ecclesias- tical institution has been paralleled by its development of educa- tional and social services, undertaken to raise human standards- moral, intellectual, social and physical. Together with the rest of the community, it has faced and tried to resolve the many challenging forces and problems that still beset and shape the life of the Colony. On 22nd April 1841, the Prefecture of Hong Kong was established by Pope Gregory XVI with Msgr Theodore Joset as the first Prefect. Within 14 years a new church had been built to