ENG-1954 — Page 270

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT, 1954

different parts of the New Territories. The Church also administers over 76 schools, some with an English programme of studies, others with a Chinese curriculum. The most recent estimate of the Roman Catholic popula- tion of Hong Kong (June 30, 1954) is 53,821.

The work of the Roman Catholic Church is carried on by priests of many nationalities some engaged in parish work, others working in schools and at the University. There are about 400 nuns belonging to various religious orders engaged in charitable and educational work in hospitals, schools, and homes for orphans, blind girls, cripples and the aged. Many of the principal missions have their Far Eastern adminis- trative headquarters in the Colony. There are a number of important Roman Catholic seminaries on Hong Kong Island, Public Mass is celebrated regularly in 58 churches and chapels in the Colony. During the past year new churches were built in Kowloon Tsai, in the Fanling district and in the Sek Kong camp, New Territories. A new church for the Shamshuipo area, to hold a congregation of 2,000, is under construction in Shek Kip Mei Street, Kowloon, together with a school attached to the church.

Welfare work under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church is organized by the St. Vincent de Paul Society (established in Hong Kong, in 1863), the Catholic Women's League, the Catholic Welfare Com- mittee and the Catholic Resettlement Bureau. The Catholic Welfare Committee operates a mobile clinic which visits eight different places every week and treats 2,400 cases monthly. There are 13 Welfare Centres, with resident staffs, in the refugee and resettlement

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