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RELIGION AND CUSTOM
164,000 pupils. In 1958, the Catholic Church set up a Social Welfare Bureau (Caritas-Hong Kong) to meet the need for a central directing and planning body of Catholic charities. Thanks to contributions from international charity agencies, many welfare and training schemes have been launched.
Today the Catholic Church operates six hospitals with a total of 1,305 beds and 31 clinics spread out in various parts of the Colony, including one boat clinic that serves the fishermen of Aberdeen. In the social field, it runs four social centres, six voca- tional training centres, one youth_holiday centre, seven children's play centres, 16 day nurseries, four orphanages and 14 hostels and homes. Catholic charities are also responsible for 23 free kitchens and food processing and distribution centres. In 1966, the Caritas Medical Centre at the densely populated So Uk Tsuen area, Kowloon, opened a four-storey building for outpatients. A child- ren's hospital is also under construction. The second stage of the multi-purpose social centre in Caine Road was completed at the end of 1966, while another is under planning for Kowloon. Con- struction costs of these projects are donated by international agencies, both Catholic and non-Catholic, while the day-to-day running expenses are raised locally.
Hong Kong's Jewish community worship at a synagogue in Robinson Road constructed in 1901 on land given by Mr Joseph Sassoon and his family. Mr Sassoon built the synagogue in memory of his mother Leah and it is therefore known as the Synagogue 'Ohel Leah'. The Jewish Recreation Club and the resident rabbi's apartments are on the same site. There are about 300 people in the congregation and they belong to families who originally came from the United Kingdom, China, India, Eastern and Western Europe, and the United States, as well as people born in Hong Kong.
There are about 6,000 followers of Islam in Hong Kong, most of them Chinese who have come to the Colony during the past 10 years. The other members of the Muslim community are mainly from Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Persia and from neigh- bouring regions. They gather for prayers at the Shelley Street Mosque on Hong Kong Island and at the Nathan Road Mosque in Kowloon.