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In Klong Toey, he met a Catholic nun, Sister Maria Chantavarodom, now 92, who led him through the narrow lanes and joined him in founding the tiny school in a former pigsty.

Catholics are a tiny minority in Klong Toey, and in Thailand over all, but Father Joe says that he has always embraced the Buddhists and Muslims he lives among, and that the respect is mutual.

Returning to Bangkok in 1971, after war came to Laos, he was reassigned to Klong Toey, almost as far out of sight as if he had been in the distant highlands.

Soon after he arrived there, he had an opportunity to escort Mother Teresa around Klong Toey during her visit to Thailand.

But as a religious figure in Klong Toey, he was motivated, he said, “to be pure as snow,” adding, “I couldn’t do anything stupid, like getting drunk.”