Mrs. Rose Goodstadt and her family have supported Missionaries in China and Hong Kong for over a century. She studied Social Sciences & Public Administration in New York and Oxford. She returned to Hong Kong in 1961 and devoted her life to serving the community. Rose was Deputy Director of the Social Welfare Department and Head of the Hospital Services Department. She collaborated with many NGOs and was more of a trailblazer and social reformer than a typical civil servant.

Rose’s speech gave attendees a heartfelt and remarkable insight into the history of Hong Kong’s development and the amazing legacy of Irishmen who were called to live out the life of Jesus and support vulnerable communities in the Far-East.

“It was the end of WWII, the end of four years of brutal Japanese occupation. The city was badly bombed, and a million people had fled or been deported. The remaining 600,000, traumatised, injured and starving, struggled to rebuild their lives, together with those returning from their exile. Their urgent task was to find food and shelter and to avoid epidemics like cholera. TB and polio were rampant, but even rudimentary medical care was lacking.”

Amid such hardship, these missionaries from the Emerald Isle found themselves in brutally hot & humid weather, squashed in on all sides by big pushing crowds, struggling to grasp one of the most difficult languages in the world.

Rose’s reflection focused on the human element to these remarkable Irish men who in a foreign land found home and connection from outreach and care for vulnerable communities to positions of influence designing policy and governance founded on Christian values.

“I like to think that a city, rich or poor, must have a moral framework to develop. I believe that the Irish Jesuits’ 80 years of Christian education, promotion of human values, spiritual guidance, personal examples and long years of warm friendship gave the city its true value – its soul”

Read Rose’s full speech here: Rose Goodstadt – Irish Jesuits in Hong Kong