KWEILTEN, APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE OF
In the north-eastern part of the civil province of Kwangsi (southern China). It was erected on 2 February 1938 by division of the Apostolic Prefecture of Wuchow and entrusted to the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America (Maryknoll). As an Apostolic Prefecture it is directly dependent on the Holy See.
It has an area of 32,380 sq. km. As of 30 June 1949, out of a total population of approximately 2,500,000 inhabitants, there were 7,575 Catholics and 2,000 catechumens. There were 27 priests, of whom 1 was from the Chinese secular clergy; 6 American and 9 Chinese sisters; and 55 catechists. Five students from the Prefecture of K. were studying at the regional seminary in Hong Kong. The territory, with 2 churches and 15 chapels, was divided into 9 quasi-parishes and 71 secondary stations. There were 16 dispensaries; 2 elementary schools with 175 children, 2 middle schools with 18 pupils, and 3 prayer and elementary schools with 125 listeners.
Evangelization of the territory began at the beginning of the present century through the Paris Foreign Mission Society, to which the entire province of Kwangsi had been entrusted. At the time of its creation, K. had approximately 1,000 Christians, of whom 66 had been converted in recent years by the Maryknoll missionaries.