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RELIGION AND CUSTOM
The Protestant and Roman Catholic churches have a Joint Committee on Development, which plans joint action in areas of mutual concern, with official representation serving on each other's committees. Church leaders issue joint pastoral letters and various bodies of both groups co-operate on a number of mission and service projects.
Roman Catholic Community
In addition to its pastoral and apostolic work, the Roman Catholic Church in Hong Kong is engaged in a wide variety of activities in the fields of education, health care and social welfare. There are 323 Catholic schools, with about 300 000 pupils. Catholic social and health services include 14 social centres, six hospitals, 13 hostels (with 1 376 residents), 17 clinics, five homes for the aged, two homes for the blind, and many self-help clubs and associations. Roman Catholics in Hong Kong number about 265 000. They are served by 344 priests (134 Chinese and 210 of other nationalities); 79 Brothers (34 Chinese and 45 of other nationalities); and 778 Sisters (449 Chinese and 329 of other nationalities) belonging to 22 different religious congregations. There are 56 parishes and 45 mass centres. Services are normally in Chinese, with a few Churches providing services in English.
Since the early 1960s, there has been greater involvement of the laity in all areas of church activities. The Hong Kong Central Council of Catholic Laity is the central organisation for Catholic laity who engage in the work of evangelisation. A parallel organisation, the Hong Kong Catholic Youth Council, is the diocesan federation for Catholic youth organisations. A few years ago, the diocese set up a Commission for Non-Christian Religions and an Ecumenical Commission as a means of involving people of goodwill in supporting worthwhile causes. In addition, to develop improved ways of communicating its message, the church established the Hong Kong Catholic Social Communications Office. This took over the responsibility for public relations and information involving church and socio- religious activities from the Catholic Centre. The centre continues to publish two Catholic newspapers, Kung Kao Po and The Sunday Examiner and provides various religious publications in both Chinese and English.
Caritas, the official social welfare arm of the church in Hong Kong, is engaged in many community welfare projects: social services for the elderly, including centres and home care; family services and community centres; and medical and educational services. Many voluntary groups are also engaged in medical, welfare and educational services.
The Catholic Church was officially established in Hong Kong in April 1841 as a mission prefecture. The first Prefect, Monsignor Theodore Joset, built a matshed church at what is now the intersection of Wellington and Pottinger streets in Central District. A seminary for training Chinese priests was established and, at about the same time, religious missionaries came to Hong Kong to enter into educational, medical, social and pastoral works.
In 1874, the Catholic Church in Hong Kong became a Vicariate Apostolic, and was entrusted to the Pontifical Institute of the Foreign Missions of Milan, with Monsignor T. Raimondi as the first Vicar Apostolic.
In 1946, the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong was established, with the Rt Rev Henry Valtorta the first Bishop of Hong Kong. In 1969, Bishop Francis Chen-peng Hsu became the first Chinese Bishop of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese. The present Bishop of Hong Kong, John B. Chen-chung Wu, was ordained in July, 1975.
Protestant Community
The Protestant Community in Hong Kong, made up of over 200 000 members, meets in some 650 congregations representing the major traditions such as Anglican, Church of