Part 1: La Salle Overseas

By the end of 1988, Brother Auxiliary Visitor Désiré convoked the Sub-District of Vietnam in Paris chapter. Brother Superior General John Johnston allowed the Vietnamese Brothers from the Districts of the USA and Australia to join the Brothers of the Sub-District in this chapter, with right of vote.

Brother Désiré had invited all Vietnamese Brothers overseas, but there were only Brothers Fortunat Phong from Philadelphia, Joseph Ninh from Chicago and Benilde Tin from Australia.

There are two propositions that the capitulates unanimously voted for:

1. Maintaining and developing the apostolic works in Thio, New Caledonia;
2. Welcome the "Project Opening a new Community for Vietnamese Brothers in California, USA".

I. Sub-District of Saigon in Paris and Apostolic Works in Thio, New Caledonia.

Collège Francis Rougé is a Middle School with about 200 indigene students.

Brother Auxiliary Visitor, Paul Lê Cừ,  is Director of the community. Brother Dominique Đinh Bình An is Principal of school.

Brother Alexandre who mandate of Sub-District Auxiliary Visitor had expired in 1986, came to Thio, New Caledonia, in 1988, teaching maths for the 9th graders.

From February, 1989, Brother Alexandre assumed the charge of Principal of the Collège Francis Rougé,
Retired and returned to Paris in February, 1997.

The Sub-District Chapter proposition #1 seems not quite effective and feasible: lacking of personnel because no other Vietnamese Brothers would like to go to New Caledonia.

In addition, the situation unstable in general and the education mission in Thio, New Caledonia in particular leads Brother John Johnston, Superior General and his General Counsel to a sensitive and difficult decision to close the Sub-District. "March 31 (1992) is the date which will mark the effective end of the Sub-District in Diaspora" .

II. Foundation of the Community "La Salle Vietnam House" in San Jose, California, USA

Encouraged and supported by two Brother Visitors Colman Coogan, Baltimore District, and Mark Murphy, San Francisco District, Brothers Fortunat Phong, Valéry An and Joseph Hiệp came to San Jose in June 1990 at the new community La Salle Vietnam House. A few weeks later, Brother Cosme Tuân joined in the community and Brother Bénilde Tín from Australia District "tried a new adventure at the new community and if the new life-style meets his hopes and expectations, he could join in for good..."

In September 1990,  group of former students and friends continued to celebrating the "grand opening" of the new community in San Jose within its big enough backyard for about 100 persons. Such a big celebration's results brought to the District of San Francisco a "new" vocation: Brother Joseph Phuong who had quit the religious life while he had been in France and joined his family in Westminster, California, requested to "come back". The San Francisco District accepted his request and agreed to have him "re-do his novitiate at the La Salle Vietnam House".

Brother Bentin, after 6 months "trying to adopt the new life at the new community" choose to go back to the Australia District.

***

III. The La Sale Sisters in San Jose

Since 1990, the Brothers and La Salle Sisters together and by association collaborate in developing the common goal: Service of Education of young people in San Jose and recruit for new vocations to the La Salle religious life.

For the Education Mission, the Sisters administer a day care center for toddlers from 3 to 5 year old while the Brothers and some Sisters run the After School Program for First to Tenth graders.

For the recruitment of vocations in general, and of La Salle religious lives in particular, the Sisters and Brothers open every year a day called "Come and See!". The purpose is to present to young people in the Bay Area different ways (vocations) to serve God and the Church.

[From an article by Brother George Van Grieken, FSC]

A Place of Miracles
by Brother George Van Grieken, FSC

LARGE OR SMALL, AT DE LA SALLE CHAPEL EACH EVENT CARRIES INSIDE IT
THE SPIRIT OF FAITH AND ZEAL THAT GIVES LIFE TO EVERYTHING THAT
THE LASALLIAN SISTERS AND THE CHRISTIAN BROTHERS DO WITHIN THIS COMMUNITY.
THERE ARE NO SMALL MIRACLES HERE;
EACH MIRACLE IS LARGE TO THE HEART THAT IS TOUCHED.

One cannot visit De La Salle Chapel without going away amazed. Here in the midst of a busy residential area of San Jose, California, six Lasallian Sisters and five Christian Brothers from Vietnam provide a set of deeply appreciated educational programs for the local Vietnamese Catholic community. In this city with the largest Vietnamese population of any city in the United States, De La Salle Chapel sits as both an oasis of safety and a cauldron of activity.

Even a brief visit to one of the programs leaves one impressed with the spirit of hope in the minds and hearts of the people served by the Chapel. The experience of a group of people arriving to take photographs for this article is typical. Driving up to De La Salle Chapel, the crew finds a set of church buildings similar to ones that might be seen in a small southern town. Within minutes after arriving they are greeted by a humble Vietnamese man, with a smile that bespeaks pure heart. He identifies himself as Brother Valery and quickly makes them feel comfortable. A short while later, Sister Catherine is introduced as the youngest Sister, but somehow the strength in her eyes goes far beyond her young age.

As the group stands talking in one of the rooms where the afterschool program is held, Duke, the first of several young students, arrives. He looks up at the guests in the room, then quickly walks over to where Sister Catherine is writing the day’s quote from the Bible on the hoard. Sister speaks a few short words in Vietnamese to him, after which he again looks up at the guests and says "Good afternoon." She explains that the children are shy and that Duke had just forgotten his manners. More students arrive. Each time Sister prompts the children in Vietnamese; they say "Good afternoon" to the guests in the room. A big smile spreads across her face as another student, Christian, proudly shows her school homework marked with an "A." She tells Christian to add two stars next to her name on the chart that is taped to the wall. However, Christian never adds those two stars; the recognition from the Sister seems to be all that she needs. Several older students go over to Brother Valery to show him their homework from school. Again a beaming smile comes over Brother Valery’s face as he congratulates each one of the students.

Sister Catherine explains that most of the students who have just begun to speak English, and don’t understand it very well. Not speaking their newly adopted language, and missing their parents who are away at work, they are alone during the day in an English-speaking school system, where they struggle to learn both a new culture and a new language. Their parents are grateful that their children can come to a safe place after school to study with people who not only treat them with the utmost respect, but who can speak to them in their own language. The expressions on the faces of both Brother Valery and Sister Catherine make it obvious why De La Salle Chapel is as special to the parents as it is to their children.

The Sisters and Brothers convey a respect that seems to melt away boundaries of race, language, or age. On the playground, two young boys share the warmth of their friendship as they huddle inside the equipment to keep warm. At the day-care center, hundreds of valentine hearts hang from the ceiling as a sea of preschool children sit on the floor singing "One, Two, Three Cheese" for 20 minutes.

The constant activity happens without advertisement, without definitive plans, and without a great deal of money — deliberately. The only advertisement the Sisters and Brothers have is themselves. "The programs all grew by word-of-mouth," says Brother Phong, the first Director of Dc La Salle Chapel. We started small, and soon the Vietnamese people came to us more and more. Now we have more than we can sometimes handle, but we never turn anyone away."

One of the bright lights at De La Salle Chapel was Brother Joseph Hiep, who died of an aneurysm at the young age of 45 on September 7, 1998. A creative artist, musician, educator, and all-around talent, he escaped from Vietnam as a young man and became deeply tied to the Amerasian youth within the Vietnamese community of San Jose (who were called "children of the dust" because they were fathered by American GI’s during the war years and then abandoned by both the Vietnamese and the Americans). For these dislocated young people, Brother Joseph founded a tutoring and job placement outreach program. He was the real soul of the community," says Brother Phong. ‘We miss him very much." Brother Joseph is one of the reasons that Dc La Salle Chapel continues to shine among the 80,000 Vietnamese people who now live in San Jose.

It is clear that in all of the many programs at De La Salle Chapel,
each person shows a deep respect for others and
everyone reflects a joy that communicates beyond language
or cultural barriers.

Whether at a jubilant Mass sung in Vietnamese at Saint Patrick’s Church, or among 3,000 attendees at the festive New Year’s cultural show at the Civic Auditorium, or inside of a small classroom where a Sister happily braids the hair of a young girl, everyone who touches the life of Dc La Salle Chapel is changed by the experience.

Large or small, each event carries inside it the spirit of faith and zeal that gives life to everything that the Lasallian Sisters and the Christian Brothers do within the Vietnamese Catholic community. There are no small miracles here; each miracle is large to the life and the heart that is touched.

Cathy Locke contributed to the writing
of this article.

***

On March 11, 2002, by decree, Archbishop Phạm Minh Mẫn of Saigon Arch-Diocese, officially and canonically recognized the Congregation of the La Salle Sisters. The reception of the decree was joyfully celebrated in Pattaya, Thailand, with the particpation of many Sisters and Brothers and Friends and Benefactors from Vietnam, from Thailand, Australia, United States of America, etc...

***

IV. The La Salle Families

For a while after successfully escaping from Vietnam in 1975 or a few years later and re-settled up in different free countries, the La Salle former students and friends began to be contacting with each other. Especially in Westminster, Orange County of California, where most Vietnamese refugees gather to form a bigger Vietnamese Community, some former Juniors from Thu Duc start getting together "just for fun and for kind of nostalgia on souvenirs d'antan of their golden age", recalling a so wonderful life in the Junior House of Thu Duc. Little by little, they could enlarge their circle of contacts and began to form a small group/club called The Spirit of De La Salle which gathered from the start with the fifties of members.

Step by step, the small circle tried to reach out to other classmates and/or schoolmates and friends of any schools of the De La Salle Brothers in Vietnam before 1975. To do so, they decided to open a "La Salle Students Rally" in Westminster, on the Christmas Season of 1986.

And voilà! Different groups/circles of different classmates/schoolmates were formed.