RELIGION
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already forty years old, membership of which is on a congrega- tional basis; and secondly, the Hong Kong Christian Council, whose membership is by denomination. The Chinese Christian Churches Union now represents 79 member-churches and offers regular opportunities for discussion and joint action. During 1964 it has built and opened a very large Home for the Aged at Shatin Pass Road, Wong Tai Sin; and has started to publish a weekly newspaper on Christian news and comment. The Hong Kong Christian Council has a membership of nineteen major church denominations and christian organizations (such as the Salvation Army, the YMCA and the YWCA). It exists to bring the member bodies into closer association in Hong Kong and to strengthen the links with the world-wide church. It is itself a member of the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism of the World Council of Churches, and a member of the East Asia Christian Conference. There has been slow development during the year in respect of the Christian Council's two big projects, the Christian Centre and the United Christian Hospital.
The major world denominations are represented in Hong Kong in the Adventists, Anglicans, Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, and Pentecostals, etc, with Congregational and Presbyterian effort con- tributed to the Church of Christ in China. Most of these are engaging in educational work to some extent, with the Anglicans taking the lead in numbers with over 45,000 primary students in their schools. Other groups working in Hong Kong include the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), which is conducting mission work here. There is also a Christian Science Church on the island. There are a small number of Russian Orthodox believers in the Colony, some of whom have their own church.
The Roman Catholic Church in Hong Kong also dates back to the beginning of the Colony. The first priests to arrive were chaplains serving the spiritual needs of British soldiers of the Catholic faith. On 22nd April 1841, Pope Gregory XVI established the Apostolic Prefecture of Hong Kong with Msgr Theodore Joset as the first Prefect. He laid the foundations of the future by building a permanent church to replace a mat shed mission, establishing a seminary to train Chinese priests, and bringing in religious sisters- Congregation of St Paul de Chartres being the first-to start schools and welfare institutions.