By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski delivered these remarks during a naturalization ceremony for 10 new citizens, conducted March 24, 2021 by U.S. Citizens and Immigration Services. The ceremony took place outdoors at Miami’s Bayfront Park, near the sculpture of “Angels Unawares” which is on display there through April 8, 2021.
We stand before this beautiful statue entitled “Angels Unawares” – it reminds us that the history of humanity has been the history of migration. The history of these United States – and of our South Florida community – is also the history of migration. It is your history; it is my history; it is our history. And as this work of art depicts so eloquently: We all are in the same boat.
Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC
Archbishop Thomas Wenski delivers the keynote address after 10 people took the oath of U.S. citizenship in a ceremony held in the shadow of the Angels Unawares sculpture and Miami's Freedom Tower, March 24, 2021. The Archdiocese of Miami partnered with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to hold the naturalization ceremony on the corner of Bayfront Park where the sculpture has been on display since Feb. 9, 2021. It will be moved to its next city, New Orleans, on April 8, 2021.
I was born here – in West Palm Beach – but my father was born in Russian-occupied Poland and immigrated here as a young child. He came to the U.S. in 1910. He served honorably in the U.S. Army during World War II; and he was naturalized in the 1950s. I remember him in the 1980s telling a young Polish refugee whom I had helped get released from the Krome Avenue Detention Facility, that if he had gone to any other country in Europe, he would never become French or German or Italian. But he assured this young Pole, that here in the U.S., in a few years you will be an American.
Every time someone raises his or her hand to take the oath of citizenship, it gives each one of us a new opportunity to appreciate how fortunate we are to call ourselves American. Whether by birth or by naturalization, we embrace the rights and duties of citizenship afforded us in the United States’ Constitution. (And, you know, those who have immigrated to this country and become citizens had to study to take the citizenship test – and so many of you know more about the Constitution than many native-born Americans.) The Constitution has served us well – it assures us that we as Americans will be governed by the rule of law and not whims of tyrants. But the promise to protect life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is not something to be taken for granted. So, enjoy the rights of citizenship; but do not neglect the duties of citizenship: vote, pay your taxes, and if called upon, do not hesitate to defend your country from all enemies, both foreign and domestic.
Today is a special day for those of you who will shortly take the oath of citizenship and become citizens of the United States of America. U.S. citizenship opens for you and your children a future of hope.
Now, when you travel overseas – and hopefully we all will be traveling again soon – but when you travel overseas – perhaps to the country of your birth, for a visit, and when you return and they stamp your passport, your U.S. passport, you will be told: Welcome home!
