Overseas Vietnamese
He held this title until 2000, traveling extensively to work with Overseas Vietnamese communities from Europe, Japan, Australia to the U.S. He reportedly played crucial behind-the-scenes roles in publishing and globally distributing "The Road of Hope", written in prison by his former classmate and then-Archbishop Nguyễn Văn Thuận, who had been detained by the government of Vietnam for his faith and family connections. Hoài wrote the foreword in the first edition of the book and campaigned to keep Archbishop Thuận's name in the global conscience.