Epilogue

So I  finally come to the end of my work.

During over some 20 years,   I have been venturing on the streets in searching a response for the vital question : “ Is it reasonable the Institute of the Brothers  be struck off the Congregations list in Viet Nam ?”

Surely no.  The objectives  for which the brothers aimed remain there,  visibly on each of my steps, the poor,  the illiterates,  ignorants,  neglected people,  victims of social scourges …whom we must take care of generously and with  boldness” [i].   Furthermore,  on the one hand the ethic trivialization of Youth,  the degradation of human  and  professional qualities ,  on the other hand  the instructors,  are the  deep causes of  strong pains : problem of trivialized ethics,  human qualities  at fault in society. 

The education of human qualities  always has an important place at school to contribute partly to the reduction  of social scourges, the crimes of minors  in society.  However,  It seems  that schools haven’t been taking of this primordial side.  It is sufficient to mention a figure of last year :  there were  “ 7000 cases of  violating Laws by the young under 14,  be 70% of crimes  done by teenagers  under 18 :  students who rob,  fight, sell,  receive and use  illegally  heroin,  trouble the discipline and public life,  and even rape,  assassinate”[ii]…How many children belong to this category ? Throughout this number,  we must  take  a conclusion confirming that  crimes done by minors  are being alarmed and schools  do not take  or not  execute its responsibility of education,  or  do neglectfully this duty.  If  the students  studied seriously ro if  the instructors  taught well and seriously  the civic education at school,  the students once left school would have got  a sufficient  “ equipment “  to fit into life.

The working field  is immense conformably to the ideal of the Brothers’ Institute, which is  “ the educative service of the poor´,  the neglected people “ : abortion,  street children,  sexual  rapers,  health,  physical and mental hadicapped, alphabetism,  the work of children,  children and  armed conflicts,  young violence,  the refuse of the childhood children,  the infraction of the young,  the respect of the human rights,  the new poverty,  the defense of the children rights according to the Convention: Rights to survival,  rights to  be developed,  rights to be protected,  rights to participate in society…. All these topics were analysed by the brother Superior John Johnston in his Pastoral  Letter  of 1987-1999.

The time at which De La Salle lived was also  that of  the Society transition from the Middle Ages to the industrial revolution.  It was in this social context that  de La Salle discovered  a new social class and a new concept of poverty: the origine of all poverties is ignorance : “ the majority (of parents ) are not  enlightened enough about what  (education) concerned them  and the ones being busy with their wordly affairs,  and the care of their family and the others  in their constant sollicitude to earn for them  and theirs what are needed  to their  life,  they were not be able to teach themselves what concerned the duties of christians. ”[iii]

In other words,  the poverty  put people into a vicious circle : It brings them to the marginalization,  to be excluded from society: thus abandoned,  they cannot educate themselves,  go to school,  integrate in society: It is still  then the ignorance which pushed them to the poverty. And It is really hard to go out of it.  To solve radically this problem,  de La Salle proposed  his contemporains 3 essential  elements, specific products of Monsieur de La Salle :

-          To outface against the poverty,  childen must be instructed. 

-          To fight against  the exclusion of the society,  he believed that education must be based on the Faith  and on the Gospel spirit. 

-          To promote the apprenticeship of the poor children,  education must be free. 

Thus,  “ grasped by the situation of abandon of “ children of  workers and poor”,  JB de La Salle discovered, in the Faith of God,  the mission of his Institute”.  [iv] The solution of de La Salle responded to the needs of  poor children of the society of his time and, up to now,  “ This Institute is  of a very great necessity. The young, the poor, the world and the Church need the ministry of the Brothers ” [v]

Today,  in this socialist situation of VN,  the brothers  must “ comprehend the situation of the poor and abandoned children “ [vi],  as  Saint John Baptist de La Salle “ grasped by” the miserable situation of the children of his time and “  do not take in vain the name of de La Salle”[vii]  to be able to “ avoid attentively and  spare no efforts,  an interpretation of our  lasallian heritage,  either  partial or  splitting” [viii].  As de La Salle answered  with creativity to challenge the young,  the brothers  must open eyes as well to be “  attentive particularly and close to the young and children today” [ix].  The advice of Jean Lliorin  about “ let  be held “ is a nice illustration : “ My son,  you worry of those who are hungry in the world,  millions of people who are starving  and you wonder  what to do : give  one of them something to eat.  You worry of  the homeless : offer one of them  a shelter.  You worry of those who are isolated  and you wonder what you can do : give one of them courage.   Remember this, my dear son :  2000 years ago,  the world was filled with people  in needs,  all like today,  and when the abandoned and hopeless people asked me to pity,  I sent them a Savior…Hope comes only one and one only”[x].

Thus,  being conscious ot this necessity of creativity,  by several ways,  I “ acted”  to get  my official  place first and show the possibilities to make concrete our mission to the brothers.   New creations  appeared : a professional formation Center in 1989,  classes of affection  for  street children in 2000,  a professional formation Center  at Tram Chim (South VN ) in 2003,  a primary school in 2004,  a new community in Cambodia in January, 2006,  a Center for drug-addicts  in July 2006,  a professional formation Center  for the handicapped in Nha Trang  in December  2008 (photo, p.  488, 489,  490 ).

However,  after the fighting years  full of difficulties and personal experiences,  to get all of these  official authorizations,  I  realize that the true difficulties though they are so big,  have no comparisons with these  encountered in the inside of the Institute.  From this prayer  fo Sufi Bayazid,  I am fully awaken :

“ I was revolutionary when I was young and my prayer to God  was the following : “ O God,  give me the Force to change the world “.

“ When I went to my middle age  and once realized that  the half of my life  was spent without changing any soul,  I changed  my prayer like that : “ O God,  give me  the Grace to change every thing  occurring to me.  Only,  just for  may family and friends,  I will be satisfied fot that “. 

“ Nowaday,  I am  old  and my days  are being counted,  my only prayer is then : “  O God,  give me the grace to change myself.  ”

“ If I prayed  like this  at the beginning,  I  would not  waste my life “ [xi]

All the brothers are not  conscious of the complex situation  of the reality to be able to accept a hidden life in this region or to work humbly under the direction of a lay person,  or in a word,  they are not yet well prepaired  for this mission in a socialist society concerning  the domain of identity and profession.

In other words,  they dream more or less to  “ a country  where  flow milk and  honey” of the past.   Numerous are those who appraised  an action  after the immediate results,  forgetting then the advices of Mrs  Didi SUDESH [xii],  an indian lecturer  : “ the flower would be in bloom easily but to become a fruit  it needs lots of time.   The success  is never a miracle.  We must be like a gardener,  knowing just the moment to sow seeds,  by working hard,  patiently  in order to  get good fruits.  ”

Thus,  the first priority  consists of  the solid formation of the person of the Brother  because  “ to form oneself  is to get to formulate a pertinent response to the question “ What for ? “,, .  (Patrick TAERNOUX). Without this strong taking conscience of one’s identity , the necessity of the Institute to serve the young particularly the poor  in education,  they will lead a passive life,  nonchalant,  which makes lose all energy for initiatives  and creativity,  and impossible to attract  the young on the way of their  vocation,  essential  factor  for the survival  and continuity of a congregation.   Being seriously formed, the mission for the service of the poor must “ flow finally in the blood vessels “ of the Brother.   In the relationship with the young and the poor,  the disabled and abandoned children …his first worry is to help them promote their human qualities  hoping to “ reanimate the Dream of  John Baptist de La Salle  to be called  Hoping Witness  nearby the children and the young who are poor,  abandoned or disoriented “[xiii]  with lots of  FAITH and ZEAL. 

And to finish,  may I repeat these words  of the former Superior John Johston,  which show well the need of Creativity to be able to live the mission of the Brothers Today,  in the situation of such a socialist country,  and this  first by  ourselves : “ we must be ready to change what it must be changed – and we  must start by OURSELVES.  Let’s not play the victims.  Let’s not condemn the others,  nor simply  let’s  not “ blaspheme the night “ for the problems to which  we had to face up.   We must take responsibility  of our lives.  We must  be disposed to take our upside down lives,  if necessary,  to restart  from Zero.   We must be disposed  to do a U-turn,  if this is needed  and  to depart  in another direction.  ”[xiv]


 

[i] John johnston, Pastoral Letter 1997, p. 72

[ii] Newspaper Vietnamese laws, April 4th  2007

[iii] Meditations of JB de La Salle for time of Retreat, 193, 2

[iv] Rule of the Christian Brothers, art. 11

[v] Idem, art. 141

[vi] John Johnston, Pastoral Lette 1999,  p. 29

[vii] Idem

[viii] Idem, p. 30

[ix] Idem

[x] Nicollas Capelle, I want to go to your school! The Lasallian Pedagogy in XX e, Salvator, 2006, p. 160

[xi] Translated from English by Nguyen Van Tan.

[xii] Mrs Didi Sudesh,  an indian woman, 65,  travelled about 76 countries only to help people to discover and recover  the potential force in everyone in order to get a life more confident in oneself and more optimist.

[xiii] Prayer for the 44th General Chapter.

[xiv]John Johnston, Pastoral Letter 1994, p. 17.