Repost 2009: An Archbishop's Memories Of Vietnam+

Sent to me after he had read Vietnam Babylift, My Story        Dear Brock; I remember the horrific crash of the C5A flight and the whole “Baby Lift”. I still remember how my heart broke for all those infants and adults who lost their lives that day. The following is the story of my adopting my sons. I had graduated from high school in 1964 and made several attempts to join the navy, hoping to become a corpsman. After the third rejection (I was 30 pounds underweight most of my life) I entered an Orthodox Catholic monastery that was located in Florida, in 1965. In 1969, the entire monastic group (8 monks) went to Southeast Asia (Vietnam and Laos) during the Vietnam War doing missionary work, helping orphans and refugees. I spent most of my time there in Cu Chi and Saigon. While there, I got to meet and become friends with the Roman Catholic Archbishop Ngo- Dinh Thuc, the brother of the former South Vietnamese President Diem Ngo. Upon returning to the United States in May of 1973 (two years before the fatal C5A crash) the monastic community settled in Utica, New York where I continued with my studies for the priesthood, which included studying Hymnology, Christology, Theology, Iconography and Pastoral Counseling and learning liturgical Slavonic, Greek and Arabic. Since Orthodox priests are allowed to marry before they are ordained to the deaconate, I left the monastery in 1978, to marry, continuing my studies on weekends and during two weeks every summer. In 1979, my wife and I adopted two boys from Vietnam. The oldest one Tung, was eleven years old at the time. He was half Vietnamese, fathered by an American who abandoned him and his mother. His mother was killed in an attack by the North Vietnamese when Tung was eight. The second boy, Tan was nine years old (He is the one in the picture at the zoo on my blog). He is from the ethnic group known as Montagnards (Mountain people). In 1981, we adopted a third boy from Laos, Lo who was eight. I was finally ordained a deacon in 1982 and was assigned to assist a priest in the western New York area, and it was at this time that I began to get involved with the Southeast Asian refugee community that had settled in the Erie and Monroe county area. In 1983, I was called back to Utica by my bishop to be ordained a priest, after which I was sent back to western New York to set up a congregation among the Vietnamese, Lao and Cambodian refugees in the Western New York area. In 1984 we adopted our fourth and last child, a boy Hai, from Vietnam. Hai was four years old then. Unfortunately, unknown to me at the time of our marriage, my wife was addicted to drugs and alcohol. I only became aware of it late in 1985 when her addictions became much worse. After several failed suicide attempts and several failed attempts to get her help at rehabilitation, I was granted a Church annulment by my bishop, with the understanding that I remain celibate if I wished to remain in the priesthood. Both the annulment and a civil divorce were granted in 1987. I was granted full and sole custody of the boys, by the court. I continued with my ministry as I raised my sons alone. Today they are all grown with families of their own and I have 8 grandchildren. On November 1, 2008, I was consecrated a bishop of the American Orthodox Catholic Church in Syracuse, New York and elevated to Archbishop in January, 2009 To this day, I prefer mainly Vietnamese foods. Most Rev. + An Archbishop's Memories Of Vietnam+