Short Bio
Albert HO Ka-Fai, SDB, is an Adjunct Assistant Professor and Co-Director of the Chinese Programme in the Faculty of Religious Studies and Philosophy at the University of Saint Joseph (USJ), Macau. A Salesian priest, he holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of Saint Joseph, a Master of Social Sciences in Youth Counselling and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education from Hong Kong Baptist University, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Mental Health from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Fr. Ho has taught at USJ for more than eight years, contributing across the School of Education, the Faculty of Health Sciences, and the Faculty of Religious Studies and Philosophy through module delivery and student supervision. In the wider community, he has conducted suicide-prevention seminars organized by Catholic schools and the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ). Beyond tertiary education, he brings over a decade of teaching experience in Catholic secondary schools and has served as a clinical supervisor at Hong Kong Shue Yan University and Hong Kong Baptist University.
His research interests center on the spiritual analysis of dreams integrated with psychological perspectives, as well as Cognitive Therapy.
Publications
The Idea of the Exemplary Salesian in the Twelve Recorded Dreams of St. John Bosco: A Spiritual and Psychological Consideration,
http://mala.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/1rvq6jf/853USJ_MARC201708
Ho, Ka Fai. “A Review of Don Bosco’s Stages of Life .” Internet Archive, September 15, 2025. https://archive.org/details/a-review-of-don-boscos-stages-of-life.
Ho, Ka Fai. “A Review of Eight Selected Dreams of Don Bosco .” Internet Archive, September 15, 2025. https://archive.org/details/a-review-of-eight-selected-dreams-of-don-bosco.
Modules
Year 1 Bachelor
Students will study, from a psychological perspective (concepts, theories and methods), religion and religious phenomena. Topics will include: psychology of religious development, personality psychology and religion; social psychology of religion; clinical psychology of religion; interdisci0linarity between psychology, theology and sciences of religion.
Year 2 Bachelor
The aim of the course is to study how the mind has been preoccupied philosophers from as early as the European Antiquity (Parmenides, Plato etc), Hindu philosophy (Buddhism, Mahayana, Sankhya, Yoga), Chinese Chan (Zen) philosophy up to our modern times. Through a historical overview, different schools of thought will be studied and explore questions of ultimate concern such as; What is the brain? What is a mind? What is the mind relationship to the body? What is the relationship between philosophy of the mind and sciences? Concepts such as monism/dualism, behaviourism, neurosciences, Self will be discussed.
This course is an introduction to basic theoretical framework, assumptions and skills in the helping process. Approaches in the application of psychoanalytic, behavioral and humanistic theories will be examined. Emphasis will be on the training of micro-level helping skills.
Year 3 Bachelor
The focus of this course is on the specific techniques psychologists and other mental health practitioners use to create positive change in people. Students will learn the skills of active listening, empathy, cognitive reframing, crisis management, rapport building, and treatment planning, among others. Students will also learn to enhance their effectiveness as positive change agents through self-reflection as well as acquisition of knowledge about the targets of intervention and their effectiveness.
Building on the foundations of perceptual psychology, this module will extend students’ understanding of the information processing that underlies human behaviour and experience. Different models of human memory will be evaluated and various approaches to the representation of knowledge in memory will be discussed. Human problem-solving, reasoning and decision-making will be considered as well as how creativity can be understood within an information processing framework. This module will emphasis the relationship between empirical findings from experimental studies of human cognitive processes and the development of models of mental processes.
The principles of behavioural analysis and modification will be covered. Firstly, the basic processes of conditioning (learning), which have been studied extensively in laboratory studies, will be reviewed. This includes the processes of reinforcement, extinction and punishment. Antecedents of behaviour are described and procedures to modify behavioural antecedents are evaluated (with an outline of behavioural skills training and the functional assessment of behaviour). How learning processes can be incorporated into procedures to increase desirable behaviour and to decrease undesirable behaviour will be described. Students will also consider how the processes of behaviour modification can be applied to self-management.
Year 4 Bachelor
This course will explore the Sacraments of Reconciliation and of Anointing of the Sick. Historical, theological, canonical, liturgical and pastoral dimensions are given appropriate attention so as to prepare the future priest celebrants.
Students will first appreciate the importance of Religious Education as a component of the school curriculum in many schools in Macau. After becoming familiar with the structure and aims of the primary religious education curriculum, students will learn the suitable specific teaching methodologies for religious and moral education of primary pupils in Macau. As well, students will gain an appreciation of the personal and social importance of moral development of primary school pupils as well as some of the issues that can arise in the context of religious and moral education.
The aim of this module is to provide a context to learn and practice the counselling skills essential to the practice of clinical psychology. It will give special attention to the various aspects of the therapeutic setting (person, time and space) and the process of interviewing clients. Using role playing tecnhiques, students will have the opportunity to practice the micro-skills of counselling including attending behaviour, questioning, paraphrasing, summarizing and reflection of behaviour, thoughts and feelings.
This module will provide students with experience of supervised professional practice in a clinical setting in a host organisation in Macau. In the host institution, students will experience real-life situations, with staff at the host institution functioning as a model and supporting the student’s increasing autonomy. In the faculty, the academic supervisor will help the student to conceptualise interventions and to integrate their experience with their academic learning. At the end of their internship, students will submit a report describing, explaining and reflecting on their experiences.
Year 1 Doctorate
This Module provides an initial experience of supervised research work where students will work with their intended supervisor in a collaborative tutorial model that resembles the practice of Thesis Supervision. During the Module the intended supervisor will guide the student trough multiple meetings (up to 15) during a full academic year The students will conduct autonomous research that should result in a preliminary literature review, research contextualisation and a thesis proposal completely finished and prepared to be submitted to the Foundation Year Final thesis proposal review and assessment instances.
Year 1 Master
In this module, the Christian personal and spiritual development is scrutinized in the ecclesiastical context and the framework of psychosocial developmental theory in order to study and foster the sanctification of Christians. Also, the usage of basic counselling skills in the pastoral context are studied, which may be applied to enhance the awareness of pastoral care.
Year 2 Master
The module introduces students to a variety of approaches and methods of pursuing and deepening research in religious and theology. Students learn to command the tools and techniques of academic theological research. Students learn to appropriate the rich Catholic doctrinal tradition in an authentic and fruitful way. Practical exercises in aid of deepening understanding and in training research methods are facilitated.
