Given that Hong Kong was a British colony for so long, it might surprise some to discover that the city's biggest non-governmental organisation is run by the Catholic Church. It is known as Caritas Hong Kong, and it provides a web of social welfare services to hundreds of thousands of residents.
The forerunners of Caritas began charitable work in the colony with the arrival of the Catholic Church here in 1841. It officially started on April 22 of that year, when 'Hong Kong with the surrounding six leagues' was established as a Prefecture Apostolic, independent from the Macau Diocese.
The first need of the church was the spiritual care of the British (actually Irish Catholic) troops stationed in the newly occupied colony.
The first church in Wellington Street, which became the Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, was completed in 1843. The existing Catholic Cathedral in Caine Road was built in 1888.
Soon after his arrival in Hong Kong from Macau, the first prefect, Father Theodore Joset, a Swiss Diocesan priest, decided to establish a school and orphanage for Chinese boys, the Saviour College in Wellington Street, Central. Started in 1843, it later became St Joseph's College on Kennedy Road.
As the church grew, religious orders began arriving and taking care of the sick, homeless and elderly. The first were the Sisters of St Paul de Chartres in 1848, followed by the Canossian Sisters in 1860. They were followed by others and from them grew a complex web of services.