RELIGION AND CUSTOM
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called the West Point Reformatory for Homeless Boys, was also established by the Catholic Church.
In 1867 the Prefecture of Hong Kong was entrusted by the Holy See to the Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions (PIME), whose fathers have worked in the Colony ever since. The first Bishop, Msgr Timoleon Raimondi, was consecrated in 1874 when the prefecture was raised to an Apostolic Vicariat. Under Bishop Raimondi, the work of the Church was extended to the New Territories and in South China proper as far as Waichow. He built St Joseph's Church on Garden Road and the present Cathedral on Caine Road, and brought to Hong Kong the La Salle Brothers, who established St Joseph's College in 1875. Kung Kao Po, the Chinese Catholic weekly, was started in 1928. Ricci Hall, the Catholic hostel of the University of Hong Kong, was opened in 1929, and the Catholic Truth Society was founded in 1933 to publish Chinese literature.
After the Second World War much rebuilding of church premises was needed and new activities were started. Among the latter was the Catholic Centre, which was established with the immediate purpose of providing a reception and information centre for the liberation forces and old residents returning to the Colony. It now houses the Catholic Press Bureau with its two weeklies (Kung Kao Po, Sunday Examiner), the Catholic Truth Society, the Catholic Club, a lending library, a book centre and a chapel.
On 11th April 1946, the Vicariat of Hong Kong was raised to the status of a diocese by Pope Pius XII, with Msgr Henry Valtorta, PIME, as first Diocesan Bishop; succeeded in 1951 by Msgr Lawrence Bianchi, PIME. Under Bishop Bianchi's administration, the Catholic population has risen from some 43,000 to 234,500 today, over 90 per cent of them Chinese, spread out in 25 parishes on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon and in 14 rural districts of the New Territories. Church personnel engaged in pastoral, educa- tional and welfare work in Hong Kong include 332 priests, 113 religious brothers and 783 religious sisters. Religious orders and congregations number 35 and represent 24 nationalities.
The Catholic Church has since the war notably expanded its educational and social activities. There are at present 208 Catholic primary and secondary schools with an aggregate enrolment of