Father Joseph Le worked in labour camps and tried to flee Vietnam 10 times to follow his dream

The B.C. Catholic



How far will a man go to follow his dreams? For Father Joseph Thoai Le, labour camps, imprisonment, and perils at sea could not block his destiny to become a priest.

Father Le, ordained in Vancouver May 16, 1998, has just become the new archdiocesan chancellor. He sat down with The B.C. Catholic to talk about chasing his dreams in the face of overwhelming difficulties.

The B.C. Catholic: Did you ever think you would become a chancellor?

FJL: I came to Canada as a refugee in 1988. I didn’t speak any English at that moment. There were two words I knew very well: hello and goodbye.

When you come to Canada and you don’t know much about the language, you have to learn everything from scratch. I never thought of myself eventually one day being asked to be chancellor. The only thing I had in my mind was: if God called me to become a priest, that’s all I need.

BCC: Why did you leave Vietnam?

FJL: I had the desire to enter priestly ministry when I was young. The war in Vietnam was coming to an end. After the war ended, there were problems because my dad had worked for the previous government.

For me to go back to seminary was a no-no. They were not going to allow me, but they would give me a carrot: “Think about doing this and doing that, and eventually you may get in.”

So I went through all they asked me to do: the farm, the labour camp, all kinds of things trying more or less to “re-educate” a person in a communist way. I went, but they never chose me anyway.

I decided the only thing for me to fulfil my dream was to get out of Vietnam. It took me several tries. I would get caught, get sent to prison and labour camps, would get out, and would try again. Eventually God had mercy on me, I guess. I escaped.

BCC: How many times did you try to escape?

FJL: At least 10 times. I was caught twice. The longest time I was in the labour camp was almost two years. They called it a “re-education” camp.

BCC: How did you finally succeed?

FJL: We left Vietnam by boat. They planned that in a week we would land in Indonesia or Malaysia. Then, after about five days, the engine gave up.

We put up some kind of material to make a sail so the wind could pick it up, but it was so weak, it was not working.

They hadn’t planned for a long journey, so there was no (extra) food, no water. During that time, you are desperate. There’s not much you can do. You even try to taste the salt water of the sea!

The only thing you were able to do at that moment was wait for maybe a miracle to happen. You pray, you put your life in the hand of God, you ask Mary to help you, you ask all the saints to help you.

Then we saw a very big ship sailing by. We made noise and everything. It was so close we were able to see the name of the ship. It went by, nothing happened, and it disappeared on the horizon. Then we gave up. We were not saved, so we were going to die.

Suddenly, somehow, the same ship came right back. We were saved!

BCC: Why did the boat pass you by?

FJL: It was Sunday, so all the crew members were resting at noon in their own cabins. The captain went up to a swimming pool, he went swimming, and after that got up, picked up his binoculars, he was scanning the sea and suddenly he saw the boat with a white flag on it. He realized it was a refugee boat. It takes a while for these big ships to come around.

The ship that picked us up in the ocean was a Norwegian ship that took us, a small boat of 48 people. They were not allowed to pick anyone and bring them back to Norway, so they were supposed to stop at a refugee camp along the way.

They were going to Singapore. They wanted to drop us off in Singapore, but Singapore didn’t want refugees. We were picked up by a (different) ship and brought to the Philippines.

BCC: How long were you at sea?

FJL: By the time we came to the Philippines, more than a month. Most the time we were in the big ship, rescued, eating and drinking and watching TV. At that moment was the world cup of soccer, so we were enjoying it! Every time there is a world cup in soccer, I remember the time I was on that big ship.

I was in a refugee camp for about 15 months in the Philippines.

Eventually a delegation from Canada came along and they asked: “Who wants to go to Canada?” I had stayed in the refugee camp too long already, so I volunteered. I didn’t know where Canada was, I just heard that it was a very cold place.

I landed in Toronto in June and I came to Vancouver in August. I entered seminary (of Christ the King) in September.

BCC: How did you get through it all?

FJL: In the re-education camp, there’s not much you can do. You just get up and go to work and wait for your family to see you and give you supplies of food and anything you need. The only thing I was able to do in that moment was put my life into the hand of God.

I met people in the refugee camps who had a very strong faith, even a priest who was in prison. They were helping me, supporting me, in the desire to keep following my dream.

God prepared me to be a priest. I think that as long as you’re putting your life in the hand of God and doing what God is asking of you, carrying out your duty, your responsibilities, in the best of your capacity, that’s all.

Every day is a new day. Every day for me is a blessing.