St Joseph’s Church: ‘testimony to the wealth of Catholicism in Hong Kong’ when it opened in 1968

“Church symbolises the new Catholic attitude,” ran a headline in the South China Morning Post on May 26, 1968.

“St Joseph’s, the new Catholic church in Garden Road, is more than just a $1,000,000 testimony to the wealth of Catholicism in Hong Kong. Both in concept and design, it symbolises the Vatican Council’s new, liberal attitude to church worship,” the story continued.

While the church, which could hold 1,000 worshippers and had cost about HK$1.3 million to build, was not without critics – “the blue of the exterior is the colour of tiles on swimming pools, some say. The figure of Christ on the stainless steel cross above the altar has the dignity of a matchstick man, say others” – those in favour far outweighed those against, the newspaper declared, and “in a congregation which includes 23 nation­al­ities, it is clearly impossible to please everybody”.

Acting parish priest Father Secondo Einaudi told the Post that he was happy with his new church: “[The] tall Italian who came to Hongkong 14 years ago and learned English and Cantonese simultaneously, lit a cigarette and looked very pleased indeed. ‘A church must have solemnity and dignity,’ he said. ‘This one has both. It is the first of its type in Hongkong, fully in line with the Vatican Council directives for the liturgy, which say that people should gather around the altar.’”

On September 27, 1966, a Post report on the demolition of “the oldest existing Catholic Church in the Colony” had noted that relics from the old St Joseph’s, including stained-glass scenes and railings, had been sold or distributed to people and organisa­tions as “treasured reminders”.