Extension of St. Joseph's Church in Fanling
St Joseph Church, Fanling has been serving the community for more than 60 years. In 1949, the Bishop appointed Rev. Ambrose Poletti (賴法禹神父) of PIME to carry out services in the western NT deanery. Recognizing the need to build a church for evangelistic development, Rev Poletti started by renting the former residence of Mr. Tang Kun Leung (鄧坤亮先生), which is the existing site of Pui Ling School of the Precious Blood (寶血會培靈學校) as the church premises. At that time, there were only 20 to 30 Catholics. This is the former Fanling St. Joseph's Church.
In the 1950s, Rev. Poletti received a kind donation of tens of thousands of square metres of land by Mr. Chu Yan Kit for building the church. On April 14, 1954 Former Bishop Lorenzo Bianchi consecrated the new church which paid tribute to St Joseph the worker as Patron Saint. The church was named "St. Joseph Church".
After the opening of Fanling St. Joseph's Church, the Fanling parish officially separated from Tai Po region in 1957 and became an independent parish. In the early days, the Church cooperated with the Sisters of the Precious Blood to establish the Pui Ling School of the Precious Blood, St. Joseph's Charity Clinic, and St. Joseph's Flour Factory; and also cooperated with the Missionary Sister of St. Columban to establish Caritas clinic and St. Joseph Nursery. These services started taking root in the community and had been highly recognized by the public. In the 1980s, the North New Territories District had become a new town with a large population of city dwellers moving in. The social changes accelerated the development of the parish, and the need to expand the capacity of the church began to emerge.
After the church was rebuilt in 2000, the number of faithful increased again. With the rapid growth of the population in Fanling, the existing facilities were no longer sufficient to meet the needs. Therefore, the church needed to be expanded to strengthen evangelization work and support the entire northern New Territories, including Kwu Tung, San Tin, Man Kam To, Lok Ma Chau and other areas. The pastoral council of the parish decided to apply to the Diocese for the land adjacent to the church for the expansion of the church and the meeting place.
Since St. Joseph's Church was listed as a Grade III historical building by the Antiquities and Monuments Office of Hong Kong in 2011, the Diocese decided not to expand the existing historical building but to use the approved adjacent land of about 1,510 square meters to develop underground space, and the original low-density design is preserved.
Going an extra mile for architectural design – Light and shades, joy and sorrow of a church below ground
Many spectacular Christian architectural works are the sublimation of art reflecting fervent faith and working around physical limitations. They not only provide energy and spiritual ambiance to the churches but also demonstrate the wisdom and talent bestowed by our Lord. The new church design was stormed out of the box. As the new building could not block the sight of the existing one, the idea of going below the ground was hatched. The Seven Sorrows and Joys of Saint Joseph was adopted as the theme of the church featuring light and shades, sorrow and joy.
The new structure comprises a church in the basement that will house 700-800 people, a roof top garden, a new bell tower, a multi-purpose activity centre, an open foyer, a parking lot and a dormitory for priests.
The expansion works started in February 2019. The upper part has been flat-topped in mid-September 2021. The infrastructure part is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2023, and the interior decoration and environmental revitalization works will follow. The five new tower bells purchased from Italy have been cast and delivered to the new church in March 2022.
Estimated cost of the project is about HK$300 million.
Renovation of the existing church buildings to commence
Buildings Department issued Occupation Permit for the new extension
New bells installed on the bell tower
Landscaping works was carried out
Perimeter hoarding removed
Finishing up skylights
Escalator installed
Church Hall furnishing works in progress
Glass Pyramid in the ceiling installed
Multi-purpose Activity Centre works in progress
Church interior ceiling works in progress
Works in Progress
The 5 new tower bells from Italy have been cast and delivered on site.
Works commenced
Adjacent land granted by the Government
St Joseph’s Church listed as Grade 3 Historic Building by the Antiquities and Monuments Office
Application submitted to use the adjacent land as extension of St Joseph’s Church