PARENTS WATCHING Tom Hanks being chased across France and London by a murderous albino monk with a penchant for whipping himself in The Da Vinci Code may be surprised to learn that members of the hard-line Catholic faction to which he was supposed to belong may be running their child's school.
The mere mention of the title conjures images of anagrams, codes, symbols and behind-the-scenes intrigue in the Roman Catholic Church.
But a group of Form Four students at Kam Tai Commercial Centre in Ma On Shan profess total ignorance. 'We haven't seen the film or read the book. We'd get in trouble if we got caught reading it in school,' one boy said. 'We aren't supposed to read Angels and Demons, either.'
Across the street, on the first floor of their drab, government-built school, three younger students kneel in worship in a wood-lined chapel. After a few moments of murmured prayer, they bob their heads, make the sign of the cross and file out in silence.
Tak Sun Secondary School - a direct subsidy scheme established in 2000 - is one of three schools run by East Asia Educational Association (EAEA).
The association is comprised of members of the controversial Catholic prelature that fits the role of the bad guys in Dan Brown's novel. Its other schools are aided morning and afternoon primary schools in Kowloon.
'The school is based on the teachings of St Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei,' said Edward Woo Sin-wai, principal of the 1,040-student school, adding that it was one of about 200 worldwide that shared the philosophy.
