This is the story of father Joseph Vu Ngoc Bich as told to a former seminarian (CDT) who had once lived and studied at Thai Ha on 2/14/2003
After the Geneva Conference 1954 which severed the country into 2 parts, at the Redemptorist Order in Hanoi still there were still remaining 3 priests and 2 monks. Their identities were as follow:
-Brother Clemet Dat, arrested and imprisoned in 1962
-Brother Marcel Van, arrested, imprisoned and later died in prison
-Father Paquette, a Canadian citizen, expelled from the country by Lang Son border gate on 10/19/1958
-Father Cote, a Canadian citizen, deported in 1959 along with the rest of the foreign missionaries in North Vietnam
Thus father Joseph Vu Ngoc Bich was left alone to guard and care for the shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and other facilities. He was confined to his bed and blinded in both eyes, but his mind however was still clear when visited by by a former Redemptorist seminarian who had lived and studied at the same monastery 50 years ago
Father Joseph Vu Ngoc Bich later passed away
Below is a content of the interview conducted on 3/14/2003 by the former seminarian when the senile father Bich was still alive
Former Seminarian (FS): After you were left alone in this facility, what year were the monastery and seminary taken by the government?
Father Vu Ngoc Bich (F VNB): In 1959, the same year father Cote was gone, they came and said “We’re now in need of schools. Since there is no other priest in this large facility, we would like to borrow it” As I was pondering their verbal request, it seemed to be such a legitimate one. At the time I was living alone, there was no point keep them for myself, so I let them use one building.
FS: The monastery? Then did they build this house for you?
F VNB: Not yet. They first took the seminary. My space of living kept becoming less and less at the seminary for about a year when they came again to demand “to borrow” more from me, saying that they need room to set up a hospital. The (seminarian) building was built by father Michaud. I then had only 2 rooms to stay, right by the annex which connected the monastery with the seminary.
FS: So you’re saying from the beginning in 1959 they converted the seminary into a school, then a hospital the next year?
F VMB: Yes. The door which connected the two buildings was bolt-locked. In 1972 they came back to say they wanted more “due to the cramped hospital, we like to borrow the entire facility, we’ll build a house next to the church for you to live in”. Just like that, they said. No paper to sign. They took the last of this building to “make room for the hospital” In 1973 the house they build for me was completed. On the feast day of St Peter at 2 o’clock I moved into this house. At first there was only this house, later I build another house next to the nativity cave in 1992 when I celebrated my golden anniversary
. Then I kept extending from the house where I was living to the house nearby the nativity cave
FS: So you built the house nearby the nativity cave, but is it true that the row of houses connecting your house with the house near the nativity cave was built by father Thanh, from the Province?
F VNB: No. I built them all. And there was only verbal request when they “borrowed” our facility.
FS: father, what about the pond behind the monastery, the cow farm, the seminary’s swimming pool, the courtyard?
F VNB: They’re still there, though with uncertainty
FS: So only two buildings from the seminary were taken to make room for the hospital, but the courtyard, the swimming pool where a seminarian named Vinh drown, the cow farm, Preau house where our cooks Mrs Paul and Mrs An once lived…all were handed over to the Wool Rug Enterprises ?
F VNB: They did it by themselves without telling anyone. The cow is farm still vacant.
FS: That is where you’re now asking to be returned to you, right? What about the pond in
front of the seminary, does it still belong to the parish? I understand you’d already
erected a wall surrounding it. Isn’t it true that they planned to build something by the
pond but you protested?
F VNB: That’s right. They wanted to build a house….they called it …there’s such a neat
term for that house…how do you call a restaurant?
FS: Cantine. So to make it simple, the land issue can be winded down to this: They only verbally asked for your permission without any thing in writing?
F VNB: Yes.
Source of Document: The Redemtorist Order
After the Geneva Conference 1954 which severed the country into 2 parts, at the Redemptorist Order in Hanoi still there were still remaining 3 priests and 2 monks. Their identities were as follow:
-Brother Clemet Dat, arrested and imprisoned in 1962
-Brother Marcel Van, arrested, imprisoned and later died in prison
-Father Paquette, a Canadian citizen, expelled from the country by Lang Son border gate on 10/19/1958
-Father Cote, a Canadian citizen, deported in 1959 along with the rest of the foreign missionaries in North Vietnam
Thus father Joseph Vu Ngoc Bich was left alone to guard and care for the shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and other facilities. He was confined to his bed and blinded in both eyes, but his mind however was still clear when visited by by a former Redemptorist seminarian who had lived and studied at the same monastery 50 years ago
Father Joseph Vu Ngoc Bich later passed away
Below is a content of the interview conducted on 3/14/2003 by the former seminarian when the senile father Bich was still alive
Former Seminarian (FS): After you were left alone in this facility, what year were the monastery and seminary taken by the government?
Father Vu Ngoc Bich (F VNB): In 1959, the same year father Cote was gone, they came and said “We’re now in need of schools. Since there is no other priest in this large facility, we would like to borrow it” As I was pondering their verbal request, it seemed to be such a legitimate one. At the time I was living alone, there was no point keep them for myself, so I let them use one building.
FS: The monastery? Then did they build this house for you?
F VNB: Not yet. They first took the seminary. My space of living kept becoming less and less at the seminary for about a year when they came again to demand “to borrow” more from me, saying that they need room to set up a hospital. The (seminarian) building was built by father Michaud. I then had only 2 rooms to stay, right by the annex which connected the monastery with the seminary.
FS: So you’re saying from the beginning in 1959 they converted the seminary into a school, then a hospital the next year?
F VMB: Yes. The door which connected the two buildings was bolt-locked. In 1972 they came back to say they wanted more “due to the cramped hospital, we like to borrow the entire facility, we’ll build a house next to the church for you to live in”. Just like that, they said. No paper to sign. They took the last of this building to “make room for the hospital” In 1973 the house they build for me was completed. On the feast day of St Peter at 2 o’clock I moved into this house. At first there was only this house, later I build another house next to the nativity cave in 1992 when I celebrated my golden anniversary
. Then I kept extending from the house where I was living to the house nearby the nativity cave
FS: So you built the house nearby the nativity cave, but is it true that the row of houses connecting your house with the house near the nativity cave was built by father Thanh, from the Province?
F VNB: No. I built them all. And there was only verbal request when they “borrowed” our facility.
FS: father, what about the pond behind the monastery, the cow farm, the seminary’s swimming pool, the courtyard?
F VNB: They’re still there, though with uncertainty
FS: So only two buildings from the seminary were taken to make room for the hospital, but the courtyard, the swimming pool where a seminarian named Vinh drown, the cow farm, Preau house where our cooks Mrs Paul and Mrs An once lived…all were handed over to the Wool Rug Enterprises ?
F VNB: They did it by themselves without telling anyone. The cow is farm still vacant.
FS: That is where you’re now asking to be returned to you, right? What about the pond in
front of the seminary, does it still belong to the parish? I understand you’d already
erected a wall surrounding it. Isn’t it true that they planned to build something by the
pond but you protested?
F VNB: That’s right. They wanted to build a house….they called it …there’s such a neat
term for that house…how do you call a restaurant?
FS: Cantine. So to make it simple, the land issue can be winded down to this: They only verbally asked for your permission without any thing in writing?
F VNB: Yes.
Source of Document: The Redemtorist Order