Called to Be Prophetic Women of Hope Part Three: Asian Advocacy

Called to Be Prophetic Women of Hope, Part Three: Asian Advocacy

BY KATHY WILLIAMS

This is the third in a series on the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville’s history of being pioneers on issues of social justice and outreach. They are women who follow Catholic social teaching in both words and action. This stems from their charism, which is “a contemplative love of God and a resulting openness and eagerness to serve the needs of others.”

1948: A Connection With China

The year is 1948. It is three years after World War II and one year before our ally from that war, China, became a communist country following its own civil war. Reverend John T.S. Mao, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Nanking, China, has asked the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville for scholarships for two girls from China to attend Ursuline College. The request is granted, according to General Council minutes from March 6 of that year.

In 1950, Father John Moore, a Maryknoll missionary, requested that the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville give another Chinese girl a full scholarship and room and board. And so, it continued for years—scholarships given to girls from Korea and China, including Taiwan and Hong Kong, as the Ursulines saw that there was so much need for girls in those countries to be educated. During a period of strained or non-existent relationships between the United States and these countries, the Ursulines found a way to make a difference and reach out to those on the margins.

Julia Ung Ng was living in a small village in China in 1951 when Father Moore befriended her and her family. He asked Julia what her future plans were. She replied that her dream was to go to college in the United States, but her parents had lost so much in the war and could not afford to send her. Father Moore arranged for her to receive a scholarship, and as Julia says, “The day I received my scholarship letter was the happiest day of my life. To this day, I am so grateful.”

As she had to travel by boat rather than a plane due to lack of funds, Julia didn’t arrive on campus until October 1951, after the semester had already started. She then spent Christmas on campus as the only student in the dorm since she had nowhere else to go. Julia said, “I was so homesick

and cried, but the Sisters were so nice to me. On Christmas day they decorated my table in the dining room, and many visited me in my room with gifts. It was so touching. I am grateful not only for the education they gave me, but also their love.”

After graduating in 1955, Julia married a young man from Hong Kong whom she met while in college, and they moved back to Hong Kong. Her husband had a large architecture firm there and became vice chairman of the Chinese stock exchange. Julia herself had a very successful career in her own stock brokerage firm.

Julia’s sisters, Jady and Jeanie, also received scholarships to Ursuline College. Sister M. Raymond Carter, the dean of Ursuline College at the time, worked quite diligently on behalf of the students from Asia in regard to visas and funding.

Julia remembers Sister Concetta Waller as her favorite professor, and they stayed in touch for many years, along with Sister Angelice Seibert, Sister Martha Jacob and several others. Julia has two children and now lives in the United States. She has been a faithful friend and generous donor to the Ursulines and many other charitable organizations.

Dr. Mary Kwan, a native of Hong Kong, was a war refugee when she met the Maryknoll Fathers in China. She became a Catholic in 1945, and she, too, with the help of Father Moore, received an Ursuline College scholarship. She arrived in 1951, not knowing any English, and graduated in 1955 with degrees in chemistry and biochemistry.

Mary then moved to Chicago to help St. Therese Catholic Mission open a Chinese school in Chinatown. She taught classes there in the evenings and attended graduate school at Northwestern University during the day. Mary graduated from medical school, specializing in internal medicine.

Dr. Kwan provided medical care for the poor for more than 30 years in Chicago and then in Houston, Texas, and became an advocate for the rights of all to affordable health care. In 2002, she was awarded the Angeline Award, which recognizes a woman who reflects the charism of St. Angela Merici and the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville.

In 1984, Dr. Kwan also helped her niece, Chung-Sue Kwan, obtain an education from Sacred Heart Academy and Bellarmine College (now University), thus carrying on the Ursuline tradition of a Christian education. In a letter to the Ursulines she wrote, “God’s love and gospels have spread throughout many states and countries because the girls were touched by you and your examples while earning their education.”

CALLED TO BE PROPHETIC WOMEN OF HOPE Called to Be Prophetic Women of Hope, Part Three: Asian Advocacy, continued

1980: The Tran Family arrives in Louisville from Vietnam

In 1975, following the end of the Vietnam War, and with Cambodia and Laos also falling to communist forces, a steady stream of refugees began pouring out of all three countries. By 1978, the exodus of the “boat people,” as they were called, climbed into the hundreds of thousands. They made perilous journeys across open water, many dying in the process, to try to reach safety in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and other Asian countries. After a United Nations conference in July 1979, Western nations agreed to resettle the boat people into their own countries.

In a letter dated August 6, 1979, to Ursuline Leadership, Sister Clara Fehringer and Sister Elaine Eckert stated that, “There is a present-day world situation where we as Ursulines have another opportunity to demonstrate in a very real way gospel values. …Hundreds of thousands of refugees are wandering about the earth seeking a place to settle, looking for someone to take them in. As a means of responding to our call to teach Christian living, we would like to recommend that the Ursuline Community sponsor a Vietnamese refugee family.”

When Dinh Tran, his wife Le Le, their nine children, Hen (17), Ngoc (15), Duc (14), Chau (13), Qui (11), Tai (9), Loc (6), Thanh (5) and Thao (3) and his brother Thoi, arrived in Louisville on March 13, 1980, they found a greeting committee of several Sisters who drove them to their new home, St. Joseph Hall, on the Ursuline campus. The house had been cleaned and beds had been prepared for all. Sister Clara remembers that, “We were so worried about finding a bed for everyone, but I think all the children ended up together because they were used to sleeping together at the refugee camp.” I often tell people that I was sponsored by a group of Sisters that accepted us as their family and welcomed us into their home.

—Thao Tran Bianco

Schools for the children were found. Health insurance and other needs were some of the many details with which the Ursuline Sisters assisted the Tran family. English lessons and daily tutoring by the Sisters soon followed. The Sisters found employment for Mr. Tran as a groundskeeper on campus and Mrs. Tran worked for many years as a nursing assistant at Marian Home, also on the Ursuline campus. It was truly a group effort on the part of the Sisters!

Le Le and her second oldest son, Tai, who is now an engineer, described a journey that began in 1978 with their family fleeing Vietnam on a small boat crowded with 360 people. Several people onboard died during the harrowing journey from lack of food, and the passengers had no choice but to put their bodies into the ocean. Le Le says that she and her husband, Dinh, made the decision to leave their homeland and make this harrowing trip for freedom and a better life for their children.

All nine children, the parents and their uncle miraculously survived the trip and landed in Indonesia, where they lived in a refugee camp for a year. Catholic Charities connected them with the Louisville Ursulines, and Le Le says that “Every day, I say ‘thank you, thank you’ to the Ursulines. I teach my children to remember that they gave us the life that we now have.”

Thao, who is the youngest child, said, “I am a neonatal nurse in critical care, and I went into the medical field due to the inspiration of my mother working at Marian Home. She was the reason why I wanted to go into nursing and help people.” She shared one of her fondest memories: “Year after year, on Christmas Eve, the Tran family was invited to Christmas Mass, and afterward, going down to the cafeteria and eating cookies and having eggnog. The Tran family is so thankful for what the Ursuline Sister have done for us. I often tell people that I was sponsored by a group of Sisters that accepted us as their family and welcomed us into their home.”

Of their time on campus, Le Le remembers Sister Mary Lavinia Lesousky and Sister Clara Fehringer. She cannot remember all the names of the Sisters, but she says that she always remembers the campus and what the Sisters did for her. Tai remembered that the Sisters divided up all the duties that included getting the children to and from school, tutoring assistance and making sure that the family had what they needed. Tai said “it was amazing” how the Sisters managed everything. Tai says that getting presents at Christmas from the Sisters and being taken out for ice cream were two special memories for him. Tai said, “We will never, never forget the Sisters. They are always in our hearts.”

2014–present: Continuing the Asian connection with Vietnamese Sisters

In 2014, Nancy Reynolds, a Sister of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, approached her friend, Sister Lynn Jarrell, who was at the time president of the Louisville Ursulines, with a request. For the past fifteen years, Sister Nancy’s community had helped several Vietnamese Sisters obtain their bachelor’s degrees from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods

College. Would the Ursulines be willing to host one of these Sisters, Theresa Nguyen, a Dominican Sister of Tam Hiep, and assist her in getting her master’s degree from Bellarmine University?

Sister Lynn, who was serving on Bellarmine’s board of trustees at the time, says, “I approached Dr. Jay McGowan, then president of Bellarmine University, about a scholarship if the Ursulines would handle all of her living expenses, and he agreed.”

CALLED TO BE PROPHETIC WOMEN OF HOPE Called to Be Prophetic Women of Hope, Part Three: Asian Advocacy, continued

So, in 2015, Sister Theresa came to live with the Ursuline Sisters in the Motherhouse for three years while she earned her master’s degree in communications and a certificate in spiritual direction.

Sister Janet Marie Peterworth, who followed Sister Lynn as president, said, “It was an enriching experience having Sister Theresa with us. Not only did we enjoy her as a person, but we also enjoyed her introducing us to Vietnamese food and customs. Theresa was a hard worker and generous with her time in teaching some of us basic computer skills, tending flower and vegetable gardens, and helping with household chores. Sister Theresa has a place in all of our hearts.”

Sister Theresa said it was so providential that she arrived at the same time as Sisters Carol Curtis and Mary Theresa Burns, who had come a week before from the Carmelite monastery in Louisville, which had closed.

When Sister Yuli Oncihuay came from Peru to study English for a year, Sister Theresa and Sister Yuli became great friends. People were surprised that they could get along so well when they couldn’t speak each other’s language, but Sister Theresa reflects, “When the hearts speak to each other, that is the real language.”

Sister Theresa said, “I was so overwhelmed with their love. Their love has enriched my life in many, many ways. I feel so blessed to have been a part of that community.” Sister Theresa even planned an internship with the Sisters so that she could help with the move of the offices from Brescia Hall to the Motherhouse, to give back for all that she had received.

Sister Theresa added, “When I had to say goodbye, one very important part of my life was with them. Even now in Vietnam, I tease that I don’t know where I belong—I have three communities: the Dominicans, the Sisters of Providence and the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville. The Sisters of Providence gave me the foundation, the Ursuline Sisters gave me the wings.”

Sister Anna Pham, also from the same community as Sister Theresa, is currently being sponsored by the Ursulines and is living with Sister Janet Marie Peterworth at the Chatsworth Apartments in Louisville. “Sister Anna is a shy, young woman,” Sister said, “and a serious student. She has grown to know and cherish all the Sisters who live in an intentional community here at Chatsworth. Like Sister Theresa, she has introduced us to Vietnamese food and a bit of the language. I hope that whatever is next for her, she can look back on her experience with us with joy.” Sister Anna says that the Ursuline Sisters are so friendly, and she has learned so much from them. She is entering her second year in a bachelor’s program for theology at Bellarmine and will either return to Vietnam to serve her community there or join some of her Sisters who minister to Vietnamese families in two parishes in Arkansas and Texas. Sister Anna said, “The Ursulines give me a lot of courage to help other people, and I am so grateful for this opportunity.”

Sister Theresa, who is now back with her community in Vietnam serving in leadership and communications, states, “The Ursuline Sisters cannot go to Vietnam to serve, so we are representing them there. Wherever I go, I am so proud to say that I studied with the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville and the Sisters of Providence. I am a witness for them to the people of Vietnam.”