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RELIGION AND CUSTOM
Along with its apostolic work, one of the prime concerns of the diocese has been for the well-being of all the people of Hong Kong. In education, there are 300 Catholic schools and kindergartens which have about 321 200 pupils. There is the Catholic Board of Education to assist in this area. The medical and social services include six hospitals, 10 clinics, 16 social centres, 13 hostels, 12 homes for the aged, two homes for the handicapped and many self-help clubs and associations. Caritas is the official social welfare arm of the church in Hong Kong.
These services are open to all people - indeed, 95 per cent of those who have benefited from the wide range of services provided by the diocese are not Catholics.
To reach people through the media, the diocese publishes two weekly newspapers, Kung Kao Po and The Sunday Examiner. In addition, the Diocesan Audio-Visual Centre produces tapes and films for use in schools and parishes and, overall, the Hong Kong Catholic Social Communications Office acts as an information and public relations channel for the diocese.
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By special appointment of the Pope, Bishop Wu attended the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops held in Rome during the year. The synod was called to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, to assess the implementation of the council teachings and to make plans highlighting the council spirit.
Early in the year, at the invitation of the Director of the Religious Affairs Bureau of Guangdong, Bishop Wu made an official visit to Guangdong.
In September the Bishop attended the General Assembly of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conference in Tokyo.
Protestant Community
The Protestant community in Hong Kong numbers over 200 000 people. Major traditions represented are Adventist, Alliance, Anglican, Baptist, Church of Christ in China, Lutheran, Methodist, Pentecostal and the Salvation Army as well as many independent and indigenous congregations.
Protestant churches operate 200 kindergartens, 175 primary schools, 120 secondary schools, three post-secondary colleges, three schools for the deaf, several training centres for the mentally handicapped, and 15 theological schools and Bible institutes.
Health care is also an important field. There are five major hospitals operated by the Protestant churches. These are augmented by many clinics, community health programmes and other health services including home visits by nurses. Plans for the expansion of the United Christian Hospital have been approved by the government and architectural details are now under study. The 640-bed capacity is to be enlarged to 1 400 beds. In January a ground-breaking ceremony marked the beginning of work on two new staff quarters for the enlarged hospital.
There are two ecumenical bodies which facilitate the co-operative work among the Protestant churches. The oldest of these is the Chinese Christian Churches Union, dating from 1915. About 200 congregations make up the membership of the Churches Union. The union's work is carried out through departments of evangelism, Christian education, charities, information and cemeteries. The Churches Union publishes the newspaper Christian Weekly, which serves all the Protestant congregations. A city-wide evangelistic crusade and a church music camp were highlights of the year. The year also saw completion of a $6-million church centre for leadership training and conferences, built adjacent to the Kowloon Christian Cemetery.