ENG-1972 — Page 228

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RELIGION AND CUSTOM

Health, education and diversified social welfare works have been maintained and in some cases extended during the past year, for example, the foundation stone of the new Precious Blood Hospital was laid on April 12, 1972, and the Bishop Bianchi College for careers was opened in late 1971.

In the field of education, expansion continued and there are at present 178 Catholic primary and secondary schools with a total enrolment of 235,123 students.

Social services include six vocational centres, six social centres, 13 hostels for students and working people; six hospitals, one maternity home, 20 general clinics, five dental clinics, two mobile clinics; four residential homes for children and 18 day nurseries; two homes for the aged and two for the blind and two training centres for the disabled.

In their Christian social commitment, the Catholic clergy and laity have, during the past year, increasingly engaged in joint activities related to contemporary condi- tions in Hong Kong with other Christian groups. In general the social dimension of education has been more stressed in the schools.

Today, church personnel engaged in pastoral, educational and welfare work in Hong Kong include 355 priests, 125 religious brothers and 804 religious sisters, 33 religious orders and congregations representing 32 nationalities. Catholics, as in September 1972, numbered 252,803, over 90 per cent of them Chinese, spread out in 53 parishes on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, and in 15 rural districts of the New Territories.

Hong Kong's Jewish community worship at a synagogue in Robinson Road con- structed in 1901 on land given by Mr Joseph Sassoon and his family. Mr Sassoon built the synagogue in memory of his mother Leah and it is known as the Synagogue 'Ohel Leah'. The Jewish Recreation Club and the resident rabbi's apartments are on the same site. There are about 500 people in the congregation and they belong to families who originally came from the United Kingdom, China, India, Eastern and Western Europe, the United States, South Africa and Israel.

There are some 20,000 followers of Islam in Hong Kong, most of them Chinese who have come to Hong Kong during the past two decades. The other members of the Muslim community are mainly from Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Iran and from neighbouring regions. They gather for prayers at the Shelley Street and Wongneichong Road Mosques on Hong Kong Island, and at the Nathan Road Mosque in Kowloon.

The co-ordinating body for all religious affairs is the Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community of Hong Kong. The board of trustees, comprising representa- tives of the various sects within the Muslim community, is also responsible for the mosques and cemeteries. Much charitable work among the Muslim community, in- cluding financial help to the needy, hospitalisation and assisted education, is done through a welfare committee working under the direction of the board of trustees.

The Hindu community numbers more than 8,000 and their religious and social activities centre round a temple in Happy Valley. The community has been associated