The Central Administration of the Missionary Society of St. Columban has relocated its offices from Dublin, Ireland, to Hong Kong and will be open officially on May 1.

The administration, known within the Society as the General Council, consists of four Columban priests elected to six-year terms to administer the worldwide Columban organization.

The General Council has had its offices in Ireland since the Society’s founding in 1918, so the decision to move to Hong Kong was not made lightly, says Columban Father Tommy Murphy, the Society’s superior general. The move reflects the Society’s 90-year commitment to cross-cultural Catholic mission work.

In recent years, Fr. Murphy said, the Columbans’ priestly ordinations and current seminarians, plus 90 percent of all Columban lay missionaries, have come from Pacific Rim nations in Asia and South America.

“This indicates that the future shape of the Society will be more multicultural than it is now,” Fr. Murphy said. “We think the location of the General Council should reflect this reality.”

The General Council’s offices and living quarters are in the Kowloon area of Hong Kong.