“Our seminary has the best soccer team in town. We play on the grassy field, kicking the real leather ball, every day, for 30 minutes. On weekends, we play for 45 minutes.” My brother’s soccer story of his seminary life aroused in me the desire to join the seminary.
Though I have never been good at playing soccer, I have a strong passion for it. One day, after dinner, I approached my parents and asked them if I could join the seminary. I do not remember having said anything about becoming a Priest, but my parents were very happy with my intentions: “If you want to be a Priest, we will certainly support you, with all our heart.”
I can understand their feelings. My Dad was a Christian Brother for 16 years. His love for the Church, and for the Priesthood, has bubbled in his heart all his life. When he left the monastery, he met my mother who was a choir member, and also a leader of the Eucharistic Youth Movement in her church. Their marriage life was greatly strengthened by their faith, which caused a strong impact in the lives of their 10 surviving children. There were two others, one who died during the war and the other at childbirth.
We not only prayed before and after meals, but also every morning when we awoke and before we went to bed. I especially remember the long Morning prayer on Sunday. How can I forget the image of my Dad pacing back and forth praying the Rosary every night until we all fell asleep. My Mother was always with my Dad, sharing the same strong faith. I remember one time I was so angry at our maid that I curse at him. He reported my indiscretion to my Mom. She looked so serious when I was summoned before her. She laid me down, and used a long stick to hit me very hard on my bottom, as punishment. In my sheer pain I turned around and to my surprise I saw my Mom crying. And she said: “Don’t you know you hurt God so much when you cursed, using foul language?” I never cursed again in my life.
My Dad’s strong desire to serve the Church was expressed in his efforts to help build the church in our hometown of Hòa Vang. He also used his position as a government official to support the expansion of the Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres in Đà Nẵng.
Their sincerest desire was the promotion of priestly and religious vocations among their children. I remember the Redemptorists coming to our parish of Hòa Vang to give Lenten missions. They always stayed at our home. My admiration of their preaching, their beautiful habits with long rosaries, the cross like a gun stuck at their belts, and especially the apple that one of them got from inside their habits to give to me.
It all helped grow within me the love of these men, their order, their missionary work. My siblings and I all attended the school run by the Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres. Of the ten of us, the two oldest sisters joined the convent and my brother and I joined the Redemptorist seminary. The Coup d’état in 1963 cost my Dad his government job, forcing my family to relocate to avoid persecution. It also marked the end of my parents’ dream of having us all join the religious life. Of the four of us, I am the only one remaining in the religious and Priestly vocation.
I remember the day I left my family to join the seminary, it was August 1962, I was one month short of my 12th birthday. My older sister took me by train to the city of Huế. Before entering the seminary, we went into the Church of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, knelt down in front of Her Icon and prayed. My sister leaned over form her kneeler and said to me, while pointing to the beautiful icon of Mother Mary: “Your mom is now no longer going to be with you every day. This is Your Mother now.” I believe the Blessed Mother Mary took me in that day and has sustained me throughout life.
My Seminary class of 1962 began with 63 boys of 11 & 12 years of age. The following year marked the Coup D’état with the death of the Catholic President Ngô Đình Diệm. Politically, it marked the beginning of the downfall of the democratic Vietnam. The turmoil created by the tension between the Buddhists and Catholics caused our class to be moved to the city of Vũng Tàu where another class joined us, the combined total was 130 of us in our class.
I was in the minor seminary Eight years from 1962 – 1970, which led me well beyond what began with a simple passion for soccer to the passion for what had transformed the life of St. Alphonsus. The community life deepened in prayers to help one live the call to serve the poor and the most abandoned. This was all taking place within the context of a country torn by political struggles and war brought about by Communists. In this atmosphere, how to live the Gospel message of meeting the need of the suffering world is the challenge facing the Redemptorists in particular and the Catholic Church in general even today.
That is the spirit that greatly affected and impacted me in the following four years of probation or Immersion whereby we were asked to “live” before taking religious vows. Total personal independence; going to college, making a living, experiencing the life outside the monastic walls. This was meant to help one discern and come to a decision at the end of those four years, either to come back for Novitiate or return home for a different vocation and life.
As I continued with my studies in the co-ed setting, I took up various works to make a living and also to fulfill my dream of serving. I spent two years with people suffering from the war in the refugee shelters and two years living with and caring for street children in the outskirts of Saigon. I did contemplate on the marriage vocation, but, after much consideration, I decided to remain with my passion and choice for Priesthood.
In December 1974, I came back and joined the Redemptorist Novitiate in Nha-Trang, four months later in April 1975, we lost Saigon.
On April 29, 1975, U. S. Marine helicopters from the 7th Fleet flew me and 8 of my siblings out of Vietnam from the airport of Tan Sơn Nhất. The next day, April 30, 1975, we lost the country as it was overtaken by the Communists. This is the day my parents and the last two sisters and their families were supposed to join us at the airport. They were one day too late. I did not see my parents again until 1985, 10 years later. It took another 5 years for my two sisters and families to be reunited with us.
After going through Subic Bay to arrive in Guam Island and staying there for one month for processing, we spent another month in Indiantown Gap, PA before finally landing in Jacksonville Florida where we were warmly welcomed by Christ the King parish and the Adams family. A New refugee life began.
Construction work is the first job I took just one week after our arrival, to financially help our family here and also in Vietnam. I then worked for RC Cola, as the construction job was too heavy for me. During this time, I looked up in the Yellow Page to connect with the Redemptorist, and providentially was in touch with the Vice Provincial of Richmond, Very Rev. Michael Dillon, CSsR.
During the Christmas Season of 1975, he arranged to have me visit St. Alphonsus College in Suffield CT. This visit helped confirm my decision to come back to the Redemptorist. I came back to Jacksonville, picked up a job as electrician helper and worked for 6 months until July 1976, when I joined the Novitiate in Oconomowoc, WI.
After the Novitiate year, I went to St. Alphonsus College in Suffield, CT for the last two years of Philosophy. In 1979, I went to Mount St. Alphonsus in Esopus, NY for 4 years of Theology.
On May 28, 1983, in the chapel or Mt. St. Alphonsus, I was ordained a Redemptorist Priest, together with my one and only classmate, James Cascione. The people receiving my first blessings were my six sisters and brothers, one of my brothers had died of accident working in Florida in 1978.
At the exact time of the Ordination, my parents and the Redemptorists in Vietnam celebrated in Saigon the Mass of Thanksgiving. I was blessed to be reunited with my parents and give them my priestly blessings two years later in 1985, in Jacksonville, Florida. I owed my parents for their inspiration and the loving support for my Redemptorist vocation. I know I also owe my sisters and brothers for their sacrifices to allow me to be free to follow God’s call. They are always in my daily prayers.
I certainly appreciate the first 16 years of my Redemptorist formation under the guidance of the Redemptorists in the Province of Vietnam, from the day I joined the minor seminary at the age of 12 until the day I left the country during the evacuation in 1975 while in the Novitiate in Nha Trang.
I will never forget the warm embrace of the American sponsors who helped us start our new life in this new land of opportunity.
I am so thankful for the Redemptorists of the Richmond Vice Province and the Baltimore Province for accepting me with much caring support so I can fulfill God’s will in my life of following Him as a Redemptorist, together with my Confreres, to continue the mission of serving the Poor and Most Vulnerable.
I am most thankful for our Mother of Perpetual Help who loves me and cares and guides me in all moments of my life.
Reflecting on my 39 years of being called to be His priest, with all my weakness and shortcomings, I realize that I owe everything to God. I certainly believe that the inspiration and support I have received, the hardship and painful experiences in my past because of the war-related events, the many opportunities to encounter the pain and suffering that my people went through, all will empower me to remain strong and steadfast in my commitment to celebrate my priestly service. Please pray with me and for me, that I may be always faithful in offering my life to God and for my sisters and brothers.
Thank you, Lord, for the wonderful life as your Priest in the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.