(Note: Bishop Tiêm died suddenly on 17
August of a
heart attack. The mortuary letter from the Provincial is
reproduced below)
HCM: 13
September 2013 -- "Our much beloved confrere and
Bishop
JOSEPH
HOANG VAN TIEM
went home to our heavenly Father at approximately 4:00 in the
morning
of August 17, 2013 He was 75 years of age on paper but
practically he
should be 77 years of age (simply because of war at that
time). He was
born and baptized in Bui Chu, North Vietnam. 1) Before the events
of 1975 : When the 1954 Geneva Cease-fire Agreement
became
effective, he fled together with his family to the South of
Vietnam to
escape from Communist domination. He was then a diocesan
cleric.
Once in the South and because of the difficulties of all kinds
at that
time, his intention to become a diocesan priest failed. He
came to know
the Salesians and asked to join this Congregation. In
fact, he was
admitted into the novitiate in 1961 at Thu Duc under the care
of a holy
novice master, a Slovenian missionary coming from Hong Kong,
Fr.Andrew
Majcen who is now in the process of canonization.
After his first profession in 1962, he went to Cheung Chau
Island, Hong
Kong for his three year course of Philosophy. He came back to
Vietnam
to do his practical training. As soon as he finished practical
training, he was sent first to Italy and then to the Holy Land
(Cremisan) for his theological studies. After being ordained
priest in
l973, he returned to Vienam and did his pastoral works in the
newly
erected studentate at Dalat. 2) After 1975,
Vietnam now under the control of the Communist Party. All
foreign
missionaries were expelled fromVietnam. Within the great
turmoil of the
situation, he was sent together with the other four clerics to
Thanh
Binh parish which is about 20 kilometers away from Dalat City,
and
belongs to Dalat Diocese. After serving the local church for
about
almost 20 years, he was transferred to the Major Seminary in
Hanoi
where he taught moral theology. At the climax of his lifetime,
he was
nominated and ordained Bishop of Bui Chu Diocese in 2001. 3) He was devoted in
his religious life. Those who lived familiarly
around him
all had the same obsevations that he was a man of joy ; he was
a
God-given talented person, very skillful in bringing a smile,
a laugh,
joy and happiness to those around him. He was a good Salesian
who
effectively put Don
Bosco's
Preventive System into action. 4) In pastoral works:
he was good-hearted, very zealous in helping and supporting
others,
particularly the old people, the poor, the abandoned. All this
can be
seen during the time he was the parish priest of Thanh Binh.
He helped
many people of all kinds, Catholic as well as non-Catholic,
Vietnamese
and other races alike.He had a great influence over his
surroundings
As Bishop of Bui Chu, he carried out great work in the Diocese
especially in the formation of priests and lay people. His
pastoral
care is entrusted to Bishop Thomas Vu dinh Hieu, his
successor.
We must mention one magnificent devotion of his. This is his
devotion
to Our Blessed Mother Mary. He had a strong love for her. This
is
manifested in his Episcopal motto : "DO
WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU' (Jn 2:5)
As Bishop Joseph has shared for so many years in the bread and
work
promised by Don Bosco we pray he will now receive the
long-awaited
Paradise".
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