About Caritas Hong Kong

Caritas Hong Kong

Caritas Hong Kong is the official social service agency of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong. It was founded in July 1953 by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong to provide relief and rehabilitation to the poor and distressed amid post-war hardship, addressing the social hardships and inequalities resulting from the Second World War and subsequent social and political changes. Its founding impulse is credited to the German missionary priest Carl Vath. Under its motto "Love in the Service of Hope", it has grown into one of the largest diocesan Caritas organisations in the world.

Caritas Hong Kong is a member of Caritas Internationalis, the confederation of Catholic relief, development and social service organisations — described as 162 member organisations in its founding materials and as a federation of 165 Caritas organisations operating in over 200 countries in recent profiles — and of Caritas Asia. Its official website is caritas.org.hk. Today it serves the community through over 270 service units at about 150 locations, with more than 5,500 full-time staff recorded at its 60th anniversary in 2013 and some 6,300 staff reported in 2023, supported by thousands of volunteers, on an annual recurrent budget exceeding HK$2 billion.

Founding in July 1953

Caritas Hong Kong was founded in July 1953 by the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong. The primary purpose of its establishment was to offer relief and rehabilitation services to the poor and the distressed, with the aim of addressing some of the social hardships and inequalities in Hong Kong resulting from the Second World War and subsequent social and political changes at the time. Hong Kong in the early 1950s faced a huge refugee population, squatter settlements, poverty and disease, and the Diocese organised its charitable work into a single agency on the Caritas model then spreading through the Catholic world.

The founding impulse is credited to the German missionary priest Carl Vath, and the new agency joined the international Caritas movement in its founding decade: Caritas Internationalis lists Caritas Hong Kong among the national organisations founded and admitted in the 1950s, in 1953, alongside bodies such as Caritas Syria in 1954 and Caritas Brazil and Caritas Colombia in 1956. The President of Caritas Hong Kong is the Bishop of Hong Kong — Cardinal Stephen Chow in recent entries — and its Board of Management has been chaired by Dominic Chan in recent reference accounts.

From emergency relief to a multi-service organisation

Over seventy years of development, Caritas has evolved from emergency relief into a multi-service non-governmental organisation rendering help to different sectors of the community in response to Hong Kong's changing needs. It describes its service as stretching "from womb to tomb", with particular attention to "the Last, the Least and the Lost" — those most marginalised in society. Its aim, in the words used at its 60th anniversary, is to help people to help themselves, contributing to the formation and development of the person.

The wide-ranging services provided by Caritas include social work services, education, medical care, community development and hospitality services. At its 60th anniversary in 2013 it reported more than 5,500 full-time employees, some 300 units of service and more than 10,000 volunteers, and it was described by Cardinal Robert Sarah, President of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, who travelled to Hong Kong for the anniversary, as one of the largest diocesan Caritas organisations in the world. About 700 representatives of Caritas institutions from India, Japan, Vietnam, New Zealand, Australia, China and elsewhere attended the anniversary gathering.

Social work and family services

Social work is Caritas Hong Kong's largest field. Its family service work includes counselling, family support, pre-marital counselling and marriage enrichment — it developed a Marriage Checkup mobile application and displayed its family services at wedding expos — alongside services for the elderly, youth services, rehabilitation services and support for carers. Academic case studies of its end-of-life work document the Ning-An Scheme for the elderly, a case study in the development of end-of-life services in Hong Kong, illustrating how Caritas has built specialist services within its general social work portfolio.

Caritas is described in the research literature as the most subvented faith-based non-governmental organisation in Hong Kong, receiving government subvention for much of its social service provision through the Social Welfare Department alongside its own fundraising, including a territory-wide flag day held with the Department's permission. Its fund-raising activities support services for groups such as carers of elderly people in need of end-of-life care, the purpose specified for its February 2023 flag day.

Education and the Catholic university project

Education is Caritas Hong Kong's second great field. It operates schools across Hong Kong and provides education services from early years through post-secondary study. Its Caritas Bianchi College of Careers provides career-focused higher education, and the College has been described as the seed of Hong Kong's Catholic university project: at the 60th anniversary, Caritas's formation work through the College was noted as implementing a further expansion with the construction of a Catholic university.

The education mission follows the same principle as the relief mission: formation of the person. Caritas schools and colleges serve students regardless of religious affiliation, as do all its services, which are provided to the whole community in its capacity as the Church's official social service agency. Its education, medical and hospitality services together make it one of Hong Kong's largest non-governmental employers in the welfare field, with staff numbers reported at about 6,300 across 147 locations in 2023.

Medical and hospitality services

Medical services form the third strand of Caritas's work, from clinics such as its dental clinic in Aberdeen to hospital and community health services documented in its service directories. Community development services work with neighbourhoods and marginalised communities, and hospitality services — hostels and related facilities — grew from the need to house workers, students and visitors cheaply in an expensive city, providing both service and income for the agency.

The combination is characteristic of Caritas Hong Kong's scale: with over 270 service units at about 150 locations and recurrent expenditure exceeding HK$2 billion a year, it operates as a small city of welfare within Hong Kong — social work, schools and colleges, clinics, community projects and hostels under one diocesan agency, coordinated through a supporting management structure built to administer the growing network.

Caritas Internationalis and the global network

Caritas Hong Kong belongs to Caritas Internationalis, headquartered with its general secretariat in Vatican City, which is described as the second-largest international humanitarian aid network in the world after the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Collectively and individually, the confederation's mission is to serve the poor and promote charity and justice throughout the world. Caritas Hong Kong is also part of Caritas Asia, the regional structure.

Membership connects Hong Kong to projects and appeals across the world: at its 60th anniversary, Caritas Hong Kong's own projects were noted in India, Japan, Vietnam, New Zealand, Australia and China as well as at home. Cardinal Sarah's anniversary interview emphasised that the Church's concern extends to everyone's well-being regardless of religious or political affiliation — the principle on which Caritas Hong Kong serves the whole Hong Kong community while remaining the official agency of the Diocese.

Sixty and seventy years: the anniversaries

The 60th anniversary in 2013 was marked by a conference on the theme "In the face of a new era — facing relational poverty", addressing new forms of poverty in an affluent city. Pope Francis's concern for Asia and for China was conveyed to the anniversary by Cardinal Sarah, who noted the support offered as a sign that the Church has at heart everyone's well-being. The anniversary record fixed the scale of Caritas Hong Kong at that date: over 5,500 full-time staff, about 300 service units and over 10,000 volunteers.

At seventy years in 2023, Caritas thanked the stakeholders whose trust and support over seven decades had let it serve the community with quality people-oriented services, help people to help themselves, and develop itself to keep pace with the times. Its 2023 descriptions recorded about 270 service units and 6,300 staff in 147 locations across the territory, providing social work, education and medical services to the public in the spirit of "Love in the Service of Hope" for the Last, the Least and the Lost.

Caritas Hong Kong today

Today Caritas Hong Kong serves Hong Kong through over 270 service units at about 150 locations, spanning social work and family services, education through its schools and the Caritas Bianchi College of Careers, medical services, community development and hospitality. It remains the official social service agency of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong, a member of Caritas Internationalis and Caritas Asia, and one of the world's largest diocesan Caritas organisations, on a recurrent budget exceeding HK$2 billion.

For a directory of Hong Kong charitable and social service organisations, Caritas Hong Kong is an essential entry: founded in July 1953 by the Diocese from the impulse of Father Carl Vath, born in post-war relief and rehabilitation, and grown into a multi-service organisation serving people from womb to tomb. Its history, from the refugee hardships of 1953 to the relational poverty agenda of its 60th anniversary and the 6,300 staff of its 70th year, traces the development of faith-based welfare in Hong Kong itself.