In Memoriam:
Brother Joseph Hiep, FSC 1953-1998

The Key to Heaven
As related by
Brother Fortunat Tran Trong An Phong, FSC

On September 12, 1998, at the funeral Mass for Brother Joseph Hiep in the school yard at De La Salle Chapel in San Jose, a former pastor of the Vietnamese Mission in San Jose told this story in his homily: A dying Brother asked the Brothers around his deathbed for a key to heaven. One Brother brought him the Bible; he shook his head. Another Brother gave him a crucifix, and he shook his head. The rosary; he shook his head. One Brother remembered that this dying Brother used to be a tailor, mending and sewing all the robes for the community. So he went back to the shop and came back with a needle -- just a needle. The dying Brother tried to sit up to receive it. Reverently holding that needle in his hands, he closed his eyes, smiled, and died. It was so beautiful.

The pastor then asked the congregation what key we could give to Brother Joseph Hiep so he could go to heaven. Among the congregation there was a young Buddhist who used to be a colleague of Brother Joseph. He was really touched by that question. Instead of going home after Mass, he followed Joe Hiep’s funeral party to Napa and stayed there for the service and burial.

After the burial service, people went to the dining room for dinner, and when the people left after eating, those remaining were Amerasian kids: Vietnamese fathered by American GI’s during the war. They had been mistreated by the communist government in Viet Nam, were thrown out on the street, and called "children of the dust". When the Americans recognized them as their children, they wanted to bring them “home”. There were some Vietnamese who tried to grab them and buy them, in order to get a visa and follow them to America. But once they got into America many of these people dumped these children again. The Amerasian young people were not only poor, but also illiterate, underprivileged, and marginalized -- nobody liked them. They could not find their fathers in America, either, and this was their "father-land" Brother Joseph Hiep spent most of his time with those kids.

At the end of the day, when people left Mont La Salle, those kids stayed and they asked permission to go back to the cemetery. There was one young girl, half Black and half Vietnamese, who put on the long ao dai, the Vietnamese traditional robe, as if to show Joseph Hiep: You taught me to be Vietnamese, and now here I come with a Vietnamese robe to keep that tradition. She held a little flower, and she cried so much. She stayed there at the cemetery, looking down at the casket, a very simple casket, now covered with all these flowers, so many flowers. And she just cried and cried. Finally, she tossed her flower down in the grave and said goodbye to Joseph Hiep. The Buddhist young man suddenly realized that here was the answer; there was the key for Joseph Hiep to go to heaven!

I think that this is the "key" at La Salle Vietnam House. We really love kids and welcome all the kids, no matter what. They call us at night and we go. They come to us and we accept them. We welcome them. If they need us any time, night or day, we are always ready and available for them. I believe that Joseph Hiep gave us a very, very good example and a sure key to heaven. I think St. La Salle and the Brother Saints are welcoming Joseph Hiep into heaven and are very proud of him, saying, "You really are my son, having spent most of your time for the underprivileged kids; the kids on the street; the kids whom nobody wanted."