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Church in the WorldServants enlisted to help gain school placesHong Kong Francis Wong - 22 December 2007Hong Kong parents who employ Filipino domestic workers are reported to be enlisting the help of their employees in order to have their children admitted to the territory's Catholic schools, writes Francis Wong. A baptism certificate is an important requirement for winning one of the highly prized places, but children of non-Catholic families must normally attend Sunday school for a year before they can be baptised. Some families have therefore been travelling to the Philippines with their domestic workers to have their children baptised there. Fr John B. Kwan, a parish priest, told the Hong Kong diocesan newspaper about the trend, while a Filipino priest in Hong Kong, Fr Madias Tambot, said several Filipino domestic workers had told him they had been asked to help out their employers by making the journey with them. He did not say whether there had been any coercion exercised or financial inducements offered, but said that the domestic workers who had spoken to him were not happy about the practice. In the Philippines, priests are not necessarily aware of the hidden motive for the baptism, and many are prepared to receive a visiting child into the Church. Hong Kong, which has a population of 7 million, is home to about 240,000 non-Filipino Catholics and 130,000 Filipino Catholics. There are 317 Catholic schools in the diocese of Hong Kong. |
 In this week’s issueMaking markets moral Iron and velvet Love in a Catholic climate Someone to talk to A good Lent takes planning South American surprise Is the Church too slow in recognising that academies are the future for Catholic schools? Christopher Lamb Goodwin the scapegoat Elena Curti The pain of being a coeliac Catholic Sr M, guest contributor Why the Benedictine family will survive Christopher Lamb The Church's moral obligation to victims of clerical sexual abuse Speeches from this week's conference in Rome This week in Rome bishops and religious superiors met at the first Vatican-backed symposium devoted to forging a global response to the crisis of clerical sexual abuse that has disgraced ... Archbishop voices 'shame and sorrow' after priest's abuse trial Longley to visit parishes 'damaged' by Walsh Today, Tuesday 7 February, Bede Walsh, who served as a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, has been convicted by a jury, following a 10-day trial at Stoke-on-Trent ...
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