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Home / Awards / Servitor Pacis Award / 1999 THE SERVITOR PACIS AWARD RECIPIENTS 1999 - Peter Newberry, SDB Born in Manchester, England in 1948, Fr. Peter Newbery, SDB is a Salesian priest involved in Hong Kong Youth Outreach, which provides aid and guidance to the youth of Hong Kong. He first arrived in Hong Kong in 1967, assisting a Prison Chaplain in the Correctional Services Department, and was ordained a priest in 1975. He has taught in several Catholic schools in Hong Kong, an endeavor which led him to focus his attention on juveniles and especially troubled youth. Serving also as a Chaplain to Vietnamese Refugees, Fr. Newbery eventually became a full-time Prison Chaplain and earned a “Badge of Honor” from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his work in the prisons of Hong Kong. He completed his studies in Applied Criminology and Social Work, while lecturing on juvenile delinquency and counseling secondary school students. He has published many books and papers related to his specialized activities. In 1990, he was appointed by the Salesian Provincial in Hong Kong to initiate and run a crisis center for youth, which started as a simple hostel for boys, and in 1992 with the assistance of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, opened a similar center for girls. While these centers drew the attention of social workers in the area, many of whom sent their more difficult cases to them, Fr. Newbery recognized a need to focus on the more “marginal” cases, where youth were not always getting the attention of the police or social workers. Because these were not the typical cases referred to the centers, he would need to go out and look for them. In 1992, he and three others required a donated van and began an all-night outreach project that does just that. The workers travel the streets, looking for runaways and other youth at risk and offer them shelter. The youth may be taken home, to the program’s residential centers, or referred to other agencies if necessary. At the residential centers, professional social workers provide individual and group counseling and arrange meetings with the family where possible. So far, Youth Outreach has reunited more than 85 percent of the youth they come across with their families. Hong Kong Youth Outreach has grown in experience and quality and now has an office in the Prince of Wales Hospital in Shatin. Each month, they deal with between 400 and 600 cases. Youth Outreach also provides a 24-hour emergency telephone hotline for troubled youth and worried parents; it is the only one of its kind in Hong Kong. In 1998 the program inaugurated an Internet web-site for a support network for missing and exploited young people in Asia. Finally, after years of negotiations, the Government’s Social Welfare Department together with the Lands Department and the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust have agreed to provide a grant of land and funds to build an integrated service facility for Youth Outreach. In 1998, Fr. Newbery was named an Honorary Assistant Professor by the Department of Social Work and Social Administration at the University of Hong Kong and teaches a course entitled “Social Work with Youth at Risk and Juvenile Offenders.” He was also awarded a “Medal of Honor” by the Government of the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong for Youth Outreach’s work. For his efforts to help the most troubled but also the most precious members of our society with a great sense of hope and perseverance, the Path to Peace Foundation is pleased to bestow upon Fr. Peter Newbery the title of “Servitor Pacis” - Servant of Peace.
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