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The Road toward my American Citizenship.

Address given on the Citizenship Day/Constitution Week Ceremony

By Reverend M. Arturo Cabra,

Pastor of Mother of Mercy Catholic Church, Washington

September 19, 2009

The possibility of becoming a naturalized American citizen is one of the great benefits of the American Constitution. I would like to share with you the process I followed to become that American citizen.

I am a Colombian citizen by birth. After High School, I went to the Seminary with the desire of becoming a Catholic priest. One of the many good things that happened to me in the Seminary was my friendship with a classmate of mine, who after 3 years in the Seminary, decided to move to the United States to continue his preparation for the priesthood. To a great extent, thanks to him I came to this wonderful country.

My friend moved to El Paso, Texas. I kept in touch with him and I would see him on vacation when he would come back to visit with his family. Because of his positive experience, the idea that I could leave Colombia to serve as a priest in the United States started to grow in my head.

Three years passed and I was one year away from being ordained as a priest. My friend, for his part, was going to be ordained earlier, and his Bishop wanted to ordain him in his hometown in Colombia. The Bishop in Colombia who welcomed my friend’s Bishop was also my bishop. With him and my friend, we planned to use the occasion to introduce me to the American Bishop and to ask him to bring me to the United States. Every-thing happened as planned.

With letters of recommendation from both Bishops I went to the American embassy in Bogota, the capital of Colombia, to ask for a tourist visa. Along with all the documentation needed, I took all the transcripts from the Seminary to the interview at the American embassy.

At the embassy I was not expecting to be given as challenging an examination as the one I was given by the consul. To make sure that I was the person whose transcripts certified that I was, the consul chose some subjects of the seminary program to ask me some specific questions. For example, he saw that I had taken Latin, so he asked me to say something in Latin, something such as a prayer. I recited the Lord’s Prayer. He also asked me about angels, about the Virgin Mary, and about some other things that I have now forgotten. What I will never forget, however, is that that examination, because of its suddenness, was one of the most challenging examinations I have had in my lifetime.

In the summer of 1994, I received my tourist visa; and my way toward the United States started shortly thereafter. I came to El Paso and, after a couple of months there, I changed my immigration status from tourist to student.

After one year in El Paso, my sponsoring Bishop was transferred to Brownsville, Texas. Left without the Bishop who brought me into this country, I had the options of staying in El Paso, following the Bishop to Brownsville, or going somewhere else. Strange as it may seem, I ended up choosing the last option. Through my Colombian friend who was in contact with other seminarians in the States, I came to know of the need for Hispanic priests in North Carolina. I visited Raleigh, and I liked it in here.  The Bishop of Raleigh offered to welcome me if I decided to transfer. I did just that, and continued as a student on my way toward ordination. Life is strange. North Carolina was never in my mind when I left Colombia. 

I was then sent to Chicago to finish my theology studies. After two years there I was recommended for ordination. I was ordained as a Catholic priest in Cary, North Carolina in the summer of 1998. Then I started my life’s dream of working full time as a priest. Of course, my immigration status needed to be changed from student to religious worker. In that status I needed to stay for at least two years before I could apply for the green card or permanent residency. Once I became a permanent resident I was required to stay as such for five years before I could apply for full citizenship. When the time came for that, in early 2008, I had no hesitation in applying for American citizenship.

One important part of the citizenship process is an interview in which the candidate is tested on his knowledge of the English language and on American government and history. The U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services supply a booklet with 96 questions for the test. I memorized all the answers. At the examination I needed to correctly answer six questions with ten chances to succeed. The examination was oral and I correctly answered the first six questions. The interviewer stopped there because I had met the requirements.

I even remember that what followed was a trading of places: I became the interviewer and the immigration agent became the one who was interviewed. I had noticed that the booklet with the questions stated that Thanksgiving was celebrated on the last Thursday of November, which is not correct. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. I asked the agent whether it would be celebrated on the last Thursday when November would have five Thursdays? He said yes. I left things that way knowing he and the Immigration book were wrong.

Anyway, I passed all the tests for citizenship and was called to make the oath as an American citizen on October 28^th, 2008, just one week before the elections for the presidency. The next day I registered and voted. What a wonderful experience in my life. The right to vote is the most important right we citizens are granted by the American Constitution. I was given that great opportunity as soon as I became an American citizen.

I have shared with you my process in becoming an American citizen. The process took me 14 years, which I never felt as a burden because the American citizenship came to me as a gift, not as something I was determined to get once I left Colombia in 1994. I enjoyed each one of my immigration stages. The citizenship came as the crown of a race well run.

Being an American citizen is a very great and important privilege. I am proud of being part of a nation that has proved to be a great nation over almost two and a half centuries. When I study the ideals of our Founder Fathers and the great Constitution they left us, I see the columns on which our nation has been built, the solid columns that have withstood the storms of time and have remained strong.

When I think about the blood that many Americans have shed throughout these 233 years, especially during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, I feel very humbled to call myself an American. I cannot thank them enough for what they have done for me and for so many people. I will never take for granted the privileges I enjoy today.

I started this reflection stating that the naturalization process is one of the great benefits that the American Constitution offers. I should have added that the naturalization process is a tool provided by the Constitution to help make the United States the strong and prosperous nation it has been. Pilgrims formed this country, and since the beginning the legal incorporation of new residents has been one the great engines of the success of this nation. Our unity in our diversity is a strength we cannot deny. Our Constitution is undoubtedly the soul of the entire and beautiful experiment called the United States of America.

We are aware of the challenges our nation faces regarding immigration and we know that a comprehensive immigration reform is needed. I hope important steps can be made soon to solve this serious problem.

As I celebrate my first Constitution Day as an American citizen, I humbly say that I am glad our Founding Fathers were able to dream as high as they did, allowing us to enjoy the privileges of being American citizens. I am also reminded that along with privileges come some serious responsibilities. I hope I can respond on a level that being an American Citizen demands.