Caritas Medical Centre
Caritas Medical Centre is a district general hospital in So Uk, Cheung Sha Wan, New Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is the major hospital in Sham Shui Po District and managed by the Hospital Authority and Caritas Hong Kong. Caritas Medical Centre was founded by Caritas Hong Kong and opened by the Hong Kong Governor, David Trench, on 17 December 1964; the centre is now an acute general hospital with 1,206 beds situated in Shamshuipo. It provides a full range of acute and rehabilitation care and community medical services, including a 24-hour accident and emergency service, general outpatient service, inpatient and outpatient specialist services in a one-stop setting – so-called single episode care; the hospital maintains close ties with its parent organisation, Caritas Hong Kong, a strong Catholic culture under the motto "Love in the Service of Hope". The hospital has well-developed supporting services, including Pathology, Radiology and Allied Health services. Other ambulatory and outreach community services include Geriatric day hospital and Community Geriatric Assessment Team, Community Nursing service, Palliative Home Care service.
The services provided reflect the needs of the population served - ageing, low income, new immigrants. Caritas Medical Centre is the referral centre of the Kowloon West Cluster of the Hospital Authority in Eye service serving the entire Kowloon west region; the Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Service for Kowloon West Cluster is based at Caritas Medical Centre. The Palliative Care Unit serves; the hospital runs the largest Developmental Disabilities Unit for the entire territory of Hong Kong, to provide treatment and daily care for mentally handicapped patients under the age of 16 in a home-like setting. Despite not being a university hospital, it does provide clinical training for medical and nursing students from the three local universities; the hospital has been involved in serious governance issues. In 2008, a man suffered a heart attack outside the hospital, his son ran for help from a hospital receptionist, but she told him to dial 999. After a lengthy delay in getting the man to the accident and emergency department, he was pronounced dead.
The Hospital Authority subsequently reprimanded senior management of the hospital and ordered them to improve staff training and develop a plan to improve staff responsiveness. On 10 June 2010 the hospital discovered that a computer disc containing the personal information of more than 3,000 eye patients had been stolen from a locked room; the theft was not publicly announced for more than a week. To meet increasing demand, Caritas Medical Centre underwent a major redevelopment project. Phase I, completed in 2002, comprised a new 14-storey building, called the Wai Shun Block, which accommodates all acute services; the second phase of the redevelopment project was approved by the Legislative Council in 2007. It comprised a redeveloped ambulatory and rehabilitation building, the Wai Ming Block, which topped-out in 2013; the Wai Tak, Wai On, Wai Yan Blocks were demolished to make way for a new rehabilitation garden. The project was completed in 2015 and opened in 2016
Dominic Chan
Rev. Dominic Chan Chi-ming, V. G. is the Vicar General of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese. He is the Parish Priest of the Hong Kong Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Chan was born in Yim Tin Tsai, Sai Kung, New Territories, Hong Kong in 1952. Chan is of A Hakka ancestry, he was ordained priest by Cardinal John Wu in 1979. Chan led funds to restore a chapel on Yim Tin Tsai Island in compliance with a UNESCO restoration project in 2016. Rev. Dominic Chan has been the Vicar General of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese since 1992. In this office, he serves as Chairperson of the Diocesan Pastoral Commission for Marriage and the Family, the Diocesan Commission for Laity Formation, the Committee for Promoting the Cardinal's Pastoral Exhortation, the Diocesan Board of Catholic Cemeteries and the Diocesan Committee for the Permanent Diaconate, he is an Ex-officio Member of the Council of Priests, the Diocesan Personnel Commission, the Hong Kong Catholic Board of Education, the Hong Kong Catholic Education Development Committee, the Central Management Committee for Diocesan Schools and the Diocesan Building and Development Commission.
While Chan has been the Vicar General, Hong Kong has recruited more married men to become deacons. Chan visited former Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang. In 2017, Chan resided over the ceremonies in which the Our Lady of Fatima Statue passed through the territory on its first stop in route to Portugal to celebrate the centennial of the Marian apparition. Rev. Dominic Chan has been the Parish Priest of the Hong Kong Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception since 2000. On 17 August 2003, eight members of the radical Rainbow Action gay rights group disrupted a Sunday Mass at the Catholic Cathedral; as the Parish Priest of the cathedral, he prohibited Catholics who were sympathetic towards the group to enter the cathedral. On 13 February 2006, Rev. Dominic Chan expressed his view on the possibility of the elevation of Joseph Zen, the Bishop of Hong Kong, to Cardinal, he said although he was still waiting for a formal announcement, he expected Zen to be elevated to cardinal in the next consistory.
He believed that his elevation will show how important the Holy See values the church in China, that it would be an honour to have a cardinal once again to head the diocese. Zen became a Cardinal. Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong Hong Kong Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
Caritas Institute of Higher Education
Caritas Institute of Higher Education is a post-secondary college in Hong Kong established by Caritas Hong Kong, with campuses located at Kowloon Tong and Tseung Kwan O, New Territories. The Institute is able to award Bachelor's degree or below, it was named after Francis Hsu, the Bishop of Hong Kong between 1969 and 1973. Until May 2011, the college was granted the degree-conferring status and it was renamed as Caritas Institute of Higher Education as an institution for its academic awards up to sub-degree level; the institute is offering Bachelor's degree in business administration, social science, language and liberal studies. In the future, the institute would offer more bachelor's degree programmes in various disciplines. "Towards a Catholic University" is the recent motto of the institute. List of universities in Hong Kong Caritas Hong Kong Official website
Traditional Chinese characters
Traditional Chinese characters are Chinese characters in any character set that does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. They are most the characters in the standardized character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong and Macau, in the Kangxi Dictionary; the modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han Dynasty, have been more or less stable since the 5th century. The retronym "traditional Chinese" is used to contrast traditional characters with Simplified Chinese characters, a standardized character set introduced by the government of the People's Republic of China on Mainland China in the 1950s. Traditional Chinese characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau. In contrast, Simplified Chinese characters are used in mainland China and Malaysia in official publications. However, several countries – such as Australia, the US and Canada – are increasing their number of printed materials in Simplified Chinese, to better accommodate citizens from mainland China.
The debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters has been a long-running issue among Chinese communities. A large number of overseas Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between both character sets. Although simplified characters are taught and endorsed by the government of China, there is no prohibition against the use of traditional characters. Traditional characters are used informally in regions in China in handwriting and used for inscriptions and religious text, they are retained in logos or graphics to evoke yesteryear. Nonetheless, the vast majority of media and communications in China is dominated by simplified characters. In Hong Kong and Macau, Traditional Chinese has been the legal written form since colonial times. In recent years, simplified Chinese characters in Hong Kong and Macau has appeared to accommodate Mainland Chinese tourists and immigrants; this has led to concerns by many residents to protect their local heritage. Taiwan has never adopted simplified characters.
The use of simplified characters in official documents is prohibited by the government of Taiwan. Simplified characters are understood to a certain extent by any educated Taiwanese, learning to read them takes little effort; some stroke simplifications that have been incorporated into Simplified Chinese are in common use in handwriting. For example, while the name of Taiwan is written as 臺灣, the semi-simplified name 台灣 is acceptable to write in official documents. In Southeast Asia, the Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative regarding simplification. While major public universities are teaching simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications like the Chinese Commercial News, World News, United Daily News still use traditional characters. On the other hand, the Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified. Aside from local newspapers, magazines from Hong Kong, such as the Yazhou Zhoukan, are found in some bookstores.
In case of film or television subtitles on DVD, the Chinese dub, used in Philippines is the same as the one used in Taiwan. This is because the DVDs belongs to DVD Region Code 3. Hence, most of the subtitles are in Traditional Characters. Overseas Chinese in the United States have long used traditional characters. A major influx of Chinese immigrants to the United States occurred during the latter half of the 19th century, before the standardization of simplified characters. Therefore, United States public notices and signage in Chinese are in Traditional Chinese. Traditional Chinese characters are called several different names within the Chinese-speaking world; the government of Taiwan calls traditional Chinese characters standard characters or orthodox characters. However, the same term is used outside Taiwan to distinguish standard and traditional characters from variant and idiomatic characters. In contrast, users of traditional characters outside Taiwan, such as those in Hong Kong and overseas Chinese communities, users of simplified Chinese characters, call them complex characters.
An informal name sometimes used by users of simplified characters is "old characters". Users of traditional characters sometimes refer them as "Full Chinese characters" to distinguish them from simplified Chinese characters; some traditional character users argue that traditional characters are the original form of the Chinese characters and cannot be called "complex". Simplified characters cannot be "standard" because they are not used in all Chinese-speaking regions. Conversely, supporters of simplified Chinese characters object to the description of traditional characters as "standard," since they view the new simplified characters as the contemporary standard used by the vast majority of Chinese speakers, they point out that traditional characters are not traditional as many Chinese characters have been made more elaborate over time. Some people refer to traditional characters as "proper characters" and modernized characters as "simplified-stroke characters" (sim
Roman Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong
The Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong is a Latin Rite diocese of the Catholic Church. Though the bishop is subject to the Roman Pontiff, he is not the vicar of the latter: he governs it in his own name; the diocese takes its name from the see city, the metropolitan area where the bishop resides. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong is a de jure suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Guangzhou. However, in practice it is an immediate subject of the Holy See. In theory, not only Hong Kong, but a small part of Guangdong province belongs to the diocese. In practice, the diocese only comprises the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. There were about 384,000 local Catholics as of August 2015, 160,000 Filipino Catholics in Hong Kong, they are served by 26 deacons, 68 brothers and 474 sisters. There are 51 parishes, comprising 31 chapels and 26 halls for religious service; as for education, in 2017 there are 251 Catholic schools and kindergartens, having a total of over 150,000 pupils. The organization of what would become the Diocese of Hong Kong began after the establishment of Hong Kong as a British colony.
In 1841 Pope Gregory XVI created a Prefecture Apostolic comprising "Hong Kong with the surrounding six leagues" independent from the Diocese of Macau, but under the authority of the Bishop of Macau. The initial need for the establishment of the prefecture was the spiritual care of the British soldiers stationed in the newly established colony. Theodore Joset, a Swiss diocesan priest, became the first Prefect Apostolic; the prefecture functioned much as a mission, but was intended, from its inception, to become a diocese eventually. In the first ten years, the missionaries built churches, schools, a seminary, institutions for the sick and orphans. Following Joset's death in 1842, Anthony Feliciani became Prefect Apostolic of Hong Kong; the foundation stone of the first church was laid in 1842. It was dedicated to the Immaculate Conception in 1843, enlarged in 1858–59, burnt down on 18 October 1859, rebuilt and blessed on 18 March 1860. In 1858, the first missionaries belonging to the Seminary of Foreign Missions of Milan arrived.
By 1860, the physical territory had spread well beyond the initial six leagues surrounding Hong Kong to include the San On District, the Kowloon Peninsula, Sai Kung Peninsula, Nam Tau. In 1874 the Hong Kong Prefecture was raised to a Vicariate Apostolic, entrusted to the Seminary of Foreign Missions of Milan. While the prefecture had been run by missionary priests, a vicariate was the intermediary step before becoming a diocese, required a bishop to run it. Since the territory was not yet a diocese, the bishops were called "titular bishop" of another place; the bishops were under the direct authority of the Pope, exercising their power in his name, rather than being vested with the office belonging to a diocese. The first Vicar Apostolic was Giovanni Timoleon Raimondi, titular Bishop of Acanthus, who died at Mission House, Hong Kong, 27 September 1894, he was succeeded by Monsignor Louis Piazzoli, titular Bishop of Clazomenæ, Dominic Pozzoni, titular Bishop of Tavia, elected 26 May 1905. In 1880, the vicariate hosted the first synod of the fifth ecclesiastical region of the Catholic Church in China.
In 1883, the foundation stone of a new cathedral was laid. This is the present Immaculate Conception Cathedral, it was inaugurated in 1888. The vicariate continued to grow. In 1913 it included 12 European and 10 native priests and 14,195 Christians. Besides Hong Kong Island, the vicariate included Lantau Island, its adjacent islands and the three continental districts of San-on, Kwei-shing, Haï-fung. Churches with resident priests were the cathedral, St. Joseph's, St. Francis, Church of the Sacred Heart, Church of St. Anthony; the Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris had a procurator, a sanitorium and a printing office at Hong Kong. More missionaries arrived from many orders throughout the 1920s and 1930s, building more churches and hospitals. During World War II, the Japanese occupation stopped all activities. Missionaries evacuated, were variously interned and expelled. After the war, reconstruction began immediately. On 11 April 1946 Pope Pius XII established the episcopal hierarchy in China, raising all the apostolic vicariates to dioceses, Hong Kong among them, through an Apostolic Constitution in Latin sent to each Vicar Apostolic together with a letter from the Apostolic Internuncio, Anthony Riberi, in the summer of 1946.
Since the Hong Kong Diocese is directly responsible to the pope. Enrico Valtorta became the first bishop of Hong Kong. In 1949 refugees fleeing the Chinese communist regime began to pour into Hong Kong, including many Catholics and clergymen from all over China. In 1952, the diocese opened seven new chapels for refugees. In 1969 Bishop Francis Hsu became, after the resignation of Lorenzo Bianch
Caritas Bianchi College of Careers
Caritas Bianchi College of Careers was established in 1971 and has been providing post-secondary education since then. At present, it offers sub-degree programmes in three general disciplines: Business and Hospitality Management and Health Sciences. Caritas Bianchi College of Careers, was founded in 1971 by Caritas Hong Kong. In its initial operation, the College offered a variety of programmes in Accounting, Design and Hotel Business at certificate and diploma levels. In 1997, became the first institution in Hong Kong and to be granted the approval from the Business & Technology Education Council to offer the two-year BTEC Higher National Diploma and its foundation programmes. In 2001, offered the recognized dual-award Associate Degree programmes in Business and Hospitality Management as accredited by the Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation. In the same year, the College became the first non-University Grants Committee funded institution to be registered as an official BTEC registered centre offering a series of BTEC programmes.
In 2002, offered the accredited associate degree in Design programme. In June of that year, Caritas was given a $15 million "start-up loan" by the Government of Hong Kong to set up a temporary campus for Bianchi College. In 2004, offered the one-year top-up Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Programme in collaboration with the Open University of Hong Kong. In 2005, offered the one-year top-up Bachelor of Hospitality and Tourism Management Programme in collaboration with the Open University of Hong Kong. In 2006, became the first non-UGC funded institution to be granted a piece of land in Tseung Kwan O for the construction of a permanent campus by the government. In 2007, offered the one-year top-up bachelor's degree Programmes in the disciplines of Hospitality Management, Fashion Design, Graphic Design and Interior Design in collaboration with the University of Huddersfield. In 2008, merged with the Caritas Francis Hsu College administratively to pave the way for the establishment of a catholic university in Hong Kong.
In 2009, the 10-storey new campus in Tseung Kwan O with a floor area of 16,730 sq. m. was in operation. In 2010, establish Department of Health Science and planned to offer the Higher Diploma in Pharmaceutical Dispensing Programme. In 2012, offered the 2-year Higher Diploma in Pharmaceutical Dispensing Programme. List of universities in Hong Kong Caritas Hong Kong Official website
Precious Blood Hospital (Caritas)
Precious Blood Hospital is a private hospital in Hong Kong, located at No. 113 Castle Peak Road in the Sham Shui Po area of West Kowloon. It is a Roman Catholic Christian hospital, run by the Caritas group. Patients of all faith and backgrounds are cared for; the Precious Blood Hospital is composed of three wings. The first two were built in 1937 and 1939; the third one, the George Washington Wing, was built in 1975. The Hospital building suffered considerable damage during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong; the Hospital was under the administration of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Precious Blood until 1993, when Caritas group took charge of its management. The Hospital was renamed as the Precious Blood Hospital. Precious Blood Hospital offers specialist outpatient and inpatient services in General medicine, Surgery and Gynaecology, Orthopaedics and Ophthalmology; the hospital runs a General Outpatient clinic and various health check and vaccination programs are offered to the local community.
The hospital maintains high clinical and governance standards, is a member of Hong Kong Private Hospitals Association. It is surveyed and accredited bi-annually by QHA Trent Accreditation of the United Kingdom, a major international healthcare accreditation group. Canossa Hospital, Hong Kong List of hospitals in Hong Kong Hospitals in China International healthcare accreditation "Precious Blood Hospital, Hong Kong – official homepage". "Catholic.org information web site for Hong Kong". Archived from the original on 24 July 2001. "Caritas Hong Kong web site"
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