Mediaboss Marketing

By Deacon Matthew Hecker, Ph.D.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with your entire mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. Mark 12:30-31.

A Lincoln man dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus knows what it means to love ones neighbor.

He was once the neighbor most in need of love, and he has made it his lifes purpose to return and to share that love.

Chuyen (pronounced like Schwinn but without the s) Tran was the fourth of nine children in his family, born in South Vietnam in 1965, in the middle of a terrible civil war. The son of a high-ranking military officer, he was never far from the reaches of war. Those old enough to remember will recall it a bloody political conflict between the forces of Communism (North Vietnam) and Democracy (South Vietnam).

America officially entered the conflict in the early 1960s, siding with South Vietnam.

Trans father grew up in North Vietnam. When the Communists arrived, he was forced to flee south on very short notice. Other than the clothes on his back, he took with him one item: a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

My grandparents and parents made sure Catholicism was the rock on which our family is built, Tran said.

Tran grew up in rural South Vietnam, in a town similar in size he said, to Auburn. However, when he was 10 years old, every aspect of his life turned upside down. In 1975, the United States withdrew from the Vietnam War, leading to the collapse of South Vietnam. Because of his fathers military rank and position, the family faced imprisonment or execution.

On April 30, 1975, Trans father came home and informed the family they had to leave and would never be returning. There were 26 people in the extended Tran family and one of them, his grandfather, was disabled.

Tran remembers asking his dad: Where are we going? To which the elder Tran responded, You dont want to ask. We just have to go.

At the time, the only way out of South Vietnam was by water. One of Trans cousins owned a small fishing boat. With gunfire sounding nearby, Tran remembers his uncle carrying the grandfather to the boat in his arms.

The boat was heavily overloaded with more than 60 people, and Trans parents were not yet on board. They had volunteered to find food for the family to last several days. In what Tran describes as a miracle, as the boat headed out to sea, his parents, having guessed where they thought the boat had to pass, swam to that spot and were waiting in the water when the boat indeed came by.

In their flight from Vietnam, the Trans left everything they ever knew or understood about life. Completely unable to help themselves, they entrusted themselves entirely to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Totally uncertain of their fate, after several days at sea, a naval vessel rescued the Tran family. They were transported to a refugee camp in Guam, then on to another refugee camp in Ft. Chaffee, Ark. From there, after a long wait, in cooperation with a local Quaker congregation, Catholic Social Services of Lincoln agreed to sponsor all 26 Tran family members.

Speaking no English, the family arrived in Lincoln and settled into a three-bedroom, one-bathroom house, near 27th and O streets in Lincoln.

All 26 lived together and Tran said, after a very long time of living in makeshift housing, the house seemed luxurious to them. In gratitude, the Tran family appeared at the sponsoring church. When they failed to see a crucifix, they realized it was not a Catholic church.

They were unaware of the local Catholic parish, but after searching, they found they were living mere blocks away from providentially Sacred Heart Catholic Church! Through their entire ordeal, the Trans had lovingly carried with them their most precious family treasure, the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The adults found jobs and the children enrolled in school. Even without knowing English, Tran said he became an altar server and served at Mass every day.

Eventually, the family registered at Immaculate Heart of Mary, a Vietnamese-language parish in Lincoln. Tran attended Lincoln High School.

Later, a priest friend of the family invited the Tran boys to enroll at Lourdes Central Catholic School in Nebraska City. It was then Tran said, his faith came alive. He developed a deep personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He discovered a true friendship with God.

Through his entire ordeal, Tran said he learned and desired to, live the Bible by loving others as he had been loved.

Tran said his family encountered unimaginable kindness and charity in their journey to the United States. In addition, over the years, Tran said hes learned much from many people who were gladly willing to help.

Now it is my turn to help others, said Tran.

This devotion is evident in a life of service to his family, to his parish still Immaculate Heart of Mary and to the community. Tran is married to Tuyet Nguyen and they have two adult children, Mickey and Jonah. Trans life of service has blessed him with countless contacts with people from all walks of life.

Trans parents have since passed. Proudly on display in the home of Chuyen and Tuyet is his dads statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

See original here:
Family who carried Sacred Heart statue were carried by Sacred ... - Catholic Diocese of Lincoln