About the Salesians / Brother Minh Dang

Yesterday I lived in the land of the water-buffalo, of spring, summer, and autumn never winter. Yellow birds flew over my head; I was down in the rice paddies of Vietnam with mudded feet, flying my kite. Before sunrise, the church's bells would ring, I would find myself chanting prayers from memory and then imitating the priest during mass.

Brother Minh Dang

In 1991 my family ended up in a community of refugees in the Philippines, with people who have nothing, whose lives revolved around hope in the direction of randomness, chance and mischance, a system left to itself. There, I learned how fragile life is, how easily lost, and how easily forgotten – to feel hunger and to ask not when to eat but, "are we eating today?" A year later, my family made it to the United States.

Now 23 years later, the land where I had lived as a child is but a distant memory. I was looking for something to make sense of the past and give meaning to my present life. Many challenges later, I moved back home. Living at home and spending time with my family I found myself going to church every morning and praying through the day with my mother. The effect of this awakening was tremendous. What a thing it was to come upon a building full of spiritual vitality and earnestness and peace – it was serious and alive. Finally…I had to face this longing for religious life. The direction was solidified when I met my uncle, who is a Salesian of Don Bosco in Vietnam, and it was there that I found what I was looking for. And now, "Here I am Lord."

Here Brother Minh speaks about men of faith and the many remainders he has around the Salesian House

Here Brother Minh points out one of his most intriguing findings in the Salesian Chapel

Upon further inspection it is clear that Brother Minh is referring to the sixth finger on the right hand.

In his free time Brother Minh enjoys walking the nearby neighborhoods to check out the art and meet new people.