It's so interesting to watch Ticket To Heaven reactions in the tag and be able to clock immediately whether the writer is Catholic (including/especially lapsed/former) or not. A few notes for those not in the know.
1. The Catholic Church has M-O-N-E-Y. Especially for mission work. They are likely funding a lot, if not most of those boys' educations in exchange for having or bringing them and their families into the fold. For a lot of these boys, this type of school would have been their best shot at a future.
2. Using Catholic residential schooling as a method of punishment and/or 'conversion' is a tale as old as time. And they would definitely be pushing seminary at boys like that as a means of subsuming the gay (the convent is the female side of this). God doesn't hate you after all, only your sin, right? So give your life to God instead of same sex attraction.
3. There is a Master Phak at every...EV-ER-Y Catholic institution, a random caretaker/general handyman who may or may not be a believer themselves but is bought in nevertheless, usually because they are loyal/devoted to the priest, or the specific church. Orphans taken in by the church tend to either become Tanraks or Phaks.
4. Kongdech is a very specific kind of Catholic character, a genuine Legacy. His family is deeply embedded in the church, he has relatives in the priesthood, he is gleefully and with his family's full support headed for the priesthood himself. It's gonna be interesting watching him.
I have a lot of thoughts about what we've seen so far that might come in another post...
