ENG-1950 — Page 116

XIII.

RELIGION.

Hong Kong forms part of the Anglican Diocese of Hong Kong and South China.

The building which is now St. John's Cathedral was built in 1847 and established as a Cathedral Church by Letters Patent from Queen Victoria in 1850.

During the year the oldest Anglican Chinese church, St. Stephen's Pokfulam, transferred from an earlier site in Hollywood Road to its present position in 1886, was completely renovated and a new church hall completed. All Saints' Homantin completed its original plan for a school and hall by adding two additional floors to the existing structure built in 1934, and Christchurch Kowloon Tong erected a school building to be used as a diocesan preparatory school.

The Roman Catholic Church in Hong Kong was originally under the administration of a Missionary with the ecclesiastical title of Prefect Apostolic. In 1874, as a result of the increasing number of adherents to the Roman Catholic faith, a Bishop was appointed to the territory with the title of Vicar Apostolic, and in 1946 the status of the Church was raised to that of a Diocese, extending into China.

The Union Church, which is among the first Christian foundations in Hong Kong, completed its new church hall in Kennedy Road in November 1949, and in June 1950 the foundation stone was laid at the Methodist Church in Kowloon for a new combined school, church hall and vocational training centre.

All the Churches play a very full part in the educational, social and charitable work of the Colony.

The Colony is as varied in religion as it is in all other aspects of its life. The majority of the Chinese in Hong Kong adhere to their traditional family observances, but there is a well-organized Christian minority, of which about 20,000 are Protestants and 40,000 Catholics. The Colony is the seat of several Buddhist monasteries, the most important of which are in the western part of Lantao Island. The branch of Buddhism chiefly followed is the Mahayana, although on Lantao there are a small number of Hinayana institutions. Most of these monasteries are dependent for their upkeep upon charitable gifts and income earned from tourists and visitors using their rest houses. There are no large Taoist monasteries.

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