There were some Vietnamese Brothers who had been in France before the events of 1975. Most of them were sent to Paris for their studies and had been there for one, or two or even three years before. After April 30, 1975, there was no way for them to return to their homeland. Thus, they had to "adopt" France - willy-nilly - as their new homeland.
In addition, there were a group of Brothers - most of of them had been young Brothers at the Scholasticate - and one La Salle Sister accompanying her brother, who willingly chose to be resettled in France after being rescued by American ships on April 30, 1975 and disembarked in Guam a few days later. The Vietnamese Brothers who had been present in Paris before cordially welcomed these newcomer Brothers, and the French Brothers drove them to a community in Angers, the capital of the historic province of Anjou and considered one of the most beautiful cities in France.
At the Chapter General 1976 in Rome, Brother Jose Pablo replaced Brother John Johnston as Superior General. With the approval of the Central Counsel, Brother Superior General created the new Sub-District of Saigon in Paris. Such a sub-district was to gather all Vietnamese Brothers in Europe and if possible the Vietnamese Brothers who had been resettled in other countries. Brother Barthélémy (Paul Lê Cừ) was assigned Auxiliary Visitor of the Sub-District of Saigon in Paris. At the beginning, the sub-district was composed of more than 30 Vietnamese Brothers in the region of Paris.
A new community had been created at Rue Raymond Bertout in Drancy, a city of the Department of Saint Dennis. Brother Paul Lê Cừ, Auxiliary Visitor and director of the community, invited all Vietnamese Brothers to join. Only two Brothers, Léonce Cường and Arthème Chung, came to the new community. They had been in Paris for their studies two years before. Other student Brothers of their group like Abel Quang, Gabriel Khải, Gauthier Kỳ, etc. had disappeared nobody knew when.
Younger Brothers in Angers tried to adopt the new life-style and culture. But so much perturbed by both socio-political and psychological circumstances just a few weeks before, it seemed that such an adaptation had to be rather difficult and unsuccessful. Even their leader, Brother Mutien Ngoc, who had been studying in Paris for more than 3 years at the end of the 60’s, gave up and quit the Congregation. To remedy such a development, Brother Paul Lê Cừ, Auxiliary Visitor, called up Brother Herman from Australia and invited him to take care of younger Brothers. Brother Herman, Director of the community, had done his best to re-vitalize the community life but it didn’t last long. A few months later, all left the congregation, except Brother Herman himself and Brothers Dominique An and Joseph Phương [
Brother Joseph Pham’s family that had been resettled in the United States, sponsored him according to the ODP program into the USA. He then quit the Congregation. In 1990, Joseph Pham petitioned to re-enter the Congregation and the District of San Francisco accepted. He lived with the Vietnamese Brothers at La Salle Vietnam House.] The Vietnamese community in Angers had thus disappeared.With approval and support from Brother Superior General José Pablo and from many Vietnamese Brothers present in Paris as well, Brother Paul Leâ Cöø had been looking for appropriate location where the members of the sub-district of Saigon in Paris would gather together for their education mission. The bishop of Noumea in New Caledonia offered a good location in Thio, the Collège Francis Rougé (equivalent to an elementary and middle school.) Brothers Christophe Hạnh, Yacinthe, Antoine Long and Dominique An volunteered to join him to form a new community in Thio. In addition, Brother Girard Nhơn from Australia volunteered to augment the number of community members.
Obeying to the "order" of Brother superior general José Pablo that "all the Brothers who have successfully fled overseas from Vietnam should go to New Caledonia", Brother Désiré from Nha Trang went himself to the new community. Brother Paul discussed with the community on splitting into two communities: One in Thio, running the Collège and another, trying to recruit new vocations in Nouméa.
In France, another Vietnamese community had been opened in Ivry by the La Salle Fondation on the request of those Vietnamese Brothers who had come to Paris, like Brothers Pierre Nghiêm, Adrien Hoá, Félicien Nghiêm, Roger Vĩnh, Noel Pinot, Alexandre Ánh, Bosco Bắc, and Victor Bửu, etc... The community in Ivry, that was named ALDER (Association Lasallienne D’ Entraide des Réfugiés) at 4 bis, rue des Frères Blais, 94200, Ivry sur Seine, composed of Brother Pierre, founder and chairman - Brothers Adrien, Herman and Victor, to run different activities for Vietnamese refugees in general (e.g. festivities of Christmas Season, Lunar New Year, etc.) and for tutoring in French, Math and Sciences for Vietnamese high school students in particular.