ENG-1998 — Page 394

RELIGION AND CUSTOM

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Ninety-six para-church agencies and various Christian action groups minister to the Protestant community and respond to current issues and concerns within Hong Kong society at large. The church supports emergency relief and development projects in third world countries. The 'Five Loaves and Two Fish' Campaign, sponsored by the Hong Kong Christian Council, was the first overseas aid project initiated in Hong Kong. Two weekly newspapers, The Christian Weekly and The Christian Times, present news and comments from a Christian perspective.

Two ecumenical bodies facilitate co-operative work among the Protestant churches in Hong Kong. The older one, dating from 1915, is the Hong Kong Chinese Christian Churches Union with a membership of 275 congregations. The second co-operative body is the Hong Kong Christian Council, formed in 1954. Major mainline denominations and ecumenical services constitute the membership core of the council, which is committed to building closer relationships among all churches in Hong Kong as well as with churches in the mainland of China and overseas. The HKCC also encourages local Christians to play an active part in the development of Hong Kong society. It seeks to serve the wider community through its auxiliary agencies such as the Hong Kong Christian Service, Christian Industrial Committee, United Christian Hospital, Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital and Alice Ho Min Yee Nethersole Hospital and the Christian Family Service Centre. The council runs weekly ‘Alternative Tours', which give visitors and residents an opportunity to see how the church serves the community.

In recent years, there has been the trend of more young people becoming Christian or identifying themselves as Christians. This is most obvious in the university campuses.

The Roman Catholic Community

The Roman Catholic Church has been present since Hong Kong's earliest 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. In December 1996, two bishops were ordained to assist the Cardinal Joseph Ze-kiun Zen as the Coadjutor Bishop and John Hong Tong as the Auxiliary Bishop.

About 240 000 people, or nearly 4 per cent of the population, are Catholics. They are served by 337 priests, 78 brothers, and 557 sisters. There are 59 parishes and 33 centres for Mass. Most services and other religious activities are conducted in Chinese, with a few churches providing services in English and Tagalog.

The diocese has established its own administrative structure while maintaining traditional links with the Pope and other Catholic communities around the world. It uses the same scriptures and has similar ecclesial communions as 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, the diocese is concerned with the well-being of all the people of Hong Kong. The 327 Catholic schools and kindergartens have 277 447