Friday, February 17, 2006
By DEBORA SHAULIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Nearly everyone smiled while seven new United States citizens took their oaths Thursday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. A few people wiped away tears.
Among the seven were Celine Nohra and Nisrine Al-Najjar. Both are from Lebanon and were possibly the smiling champs of the day.
Both are Antonine Sisters, a Catholic religious order that has roots in Lebanon and operates an adult day-care center in North Jackson. Both came to North Jackson about six years ago.
Wearing the traditional black garments of Catholic nuns, Sister Celine and Sister Nisrine beamed during the Pledge of Allegiance and as they posed for photos with Judge Maureen A. Cronin. They giggled as they took turns sitting at the judge's bench and holding her gavel, with U.S. and state flags behind them.
Their mother superior, Sister Marie Madeleine Iskandar, took pictures with a small digital camera.
Traveling
Having U.S. citizenship helps as they travel in and out of the United States, said Sister Celine, 26. It also is a matter of personal pride for her.
"I always pray, but I'm going to keep on praying for God to bless America," she said.
Sister Nisrine, 28, also lives in Cleveland, where she is finishing a master's degree in education administration and teaches at Gilmour Academy, a private school.
People in Lebanon also enjoy freedom of speech, she noted. Her U.S. citizenship will help freedom to spread to other places. It's important "to have the American value of respect, respect for people," she said.
Both nuns' recent travels have been for personal reasons, to visit family, but their vocations can lead them to "God knows where," Sister Celine said.
Both said they will take Judge Cronin's advice to register immediately to vote in upcoming elections.
"If you do not vote, we have lost a voice in America," the judge told the group.