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RELIGION AND CUSTOM

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Churches Union. About 245 congregations make up the membership of the Churches Union. The Churches Union publishes the newspaper Christian Weekly, which has a wide circulation among the Protestant congregations. The second co-operative body is the Hong Kong Christian Council, formed in 1954. The Christian Council bases its membership on the major mainline denominations and ecumenical services bodies. It is committed to building closer relationships among all churches in Hong Kong as well as with churches overseas, and to stimulating local Christians to play a part in the development of Hong Kong society. It also seeks to serve the wider community through member agencies such as Hong Kong Christian Service, the Christian Industrial Committee, the United Christian Medical Service, the Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital, and the Christian Family Service Centre. The council runs 'Alternative Tours' each Wednesday which give both visitors and residents an opportunity to see how the church is serving the community.

In the area of social concern, the Protestant community has played an active role in arousing public interest in the democratic development of Hong Kong and in the drafting of the Basic Law. It has supported such issues as labour welfare and the guarantee of human rights in Hong Kong in the future.

Roman Catholic Community

The Roman Catholic Church has been present in Hong Kong since the territory's early days. The Church was established as a Mission Prefecture in 1841 and as an Apostolic -Vicariate in 1874. It became a diocese in 1946.

In 1969, Francis Chen-peng Hsu was installed as the first Chinese Bishop of the "Hong Kong diocese, and he was succeeded in 1973 by Peter Wang-kei Lei. The present Bishop, John Baptist Cheng-chung Wu, was consecrated in 1975, and was made Cardinal in 1988.

About 255 600 people, or five per cent of the population, are Catholics. They are served by 342 priests, 80 brothers, and 731 sisters. There are 60 parishes and 36 centres for Mass. The majority of the services and other religious activities are conducted in Chinese, with a few churches providing services in English.

The diocese has established its own administrative structure while maintaining tradi- tional links with the Pope and with other Catholic communities around the world. It uses the same scriptures and has similar ecclesial communions in the universal Church throughout the world, with which it maintains close fellowship. The assistant secretary- general of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conference has his office in Hong Kong.

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 285 Catholic schools and kindergartens which have about 312 400 pupils. There is the Catholic Board of Education to assist in this area. The medical and social services include six hospitals, 10 clinics, 17 social centres, 12 hostels, 27 homes for the aged, one home 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.