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RELIGION AND CUSTOM

Hong Kong Christian Service, the Audio Visual Evangelism Com- mittee and the Chinese Christian Literature Council and there is an Ecumenical Library and conference room. A near neighbour in the same building is the old-established Chinese Churches Union, in which churches are linked on a congregational basis.

The Roman Catholic Church in Hong Kong dates back to the beginning of the Colony. The first priests to arrive were chaplains serving the spiritual needs of British soldiers. On April 23, 1841, Pope Gregory XVI established the Apostolic Prefecture of Hong Kong with Msgr Theodore Joset as the first prefect. He built a permanent church, established a seminary to train Chinese priests, and brought in religious sisters to start schools and welfare institu- tions. The Colony's first trade school, the West Point Reformatory for Homeless Boys, was also established by the Catholic Church.

In 1867, the Prefecture of Hong Kong was entrusted by the Holy See to the Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions (PIME), whose fathers have worked in the Colony ever since. The first bishop, Msgr Timoleon Raimondi, was consecrated in 1874 when the pre- fecture was raised to an Apostolic Vicariate.

The cultural life of the Church took a big step forward in 1928 when Kung Kao Po, the Chinese Catholic weekly, was started. Ricci Hall, the Catholic hostel of the University of Hong Kong, was opened in 1929 and the Catholic Truth Society was founded in 1933 to publish Chinese literature.

After the second World Warꞌmuch rebuilding of church premises was needed. The Catholic Centre was started, initially to provide a reception and information centre for the Liberation forces and old residents returning to the Colony. It now houses the Catholic Press Bureau with its three weeklies (Kung Kao Po, Sunday Examiner and Adveniat), the Catholic Truth Society, office of the Lay Aposto- late, the Chinese Catholic Club, a lending library, a book centre and a chapel.

In 1946, the Vicariate of Hong Kong was raised by Pope Pius XII, to the status of a diocese with Msgr Henry Valtorta, PIME as the first diocesan Bishop. He was succeeded in 1951 by Msgr Lawrence Bianchi, PIME. Under his administration, the Catholic community in Hong Kong has risen from some 43,000 to 235,937 today. Over