Posted On 2020-08-10 In Mother of Tuparenda House, Projects, works of mercy

CMT’s great dream of self-sustainability

PARAGUAY, CMT, Fr. Pedro Kühlcke and Maria Fischer •

How does the blessing of the “Sternsinger”, the children dressed as “The Three Kings” from Germany, arrived to the front of the future bakery on the Casa Madre de Tuparenda, I must admit that it is a whole story full of magic, of a dream, of hope against all odds… —

It was during Mass in a neighboring parish in January, at the end of the Christmas season, during the days when in Germany thousands of children dressed as kings, walk the streets of the cities and towns to sing Christmas carols and to ask for donations for other children who are in less favorable conditions than they are. As a sign of their visit to the houses, they write on the door those signs that everyone knows: C + M + B, Cristus mansionem benedicat, Christ bless this house, followed by the year. Today, instead of writing, they stick a sticker, like those in front of the crib in the church.

At that mass, when the parish priest said: “Those who missed the visit can find a sticker with the blessing”, I thought: “I’ll find two. One for my house, and another for a house that does not yet exist, but that one day will work for the good of many children and young people…” I was thinking about the bakery of the Casa Madre de Tuparenda (CMT), whose equipment will be financed by the “Sternsinger”, these children who walk the streets for other children, in a beautiful tradition of the Pious Work of the Children’s Mission in Germany.

The sticker is still in my house, waiting for the trip that I had to cancel due to the Coronavirus. For this reason, I resorted to my photo editing program, when today, after almost seven months, in the midst of a pandemic and an internal storm that shakes all of Schoenstatt, the long-awaited news arrived: “Today the work of the new bakery was presented on the grounds of the Casa Madre de Tuparenda”. The sticker of the German children already has its place in a South American house.

 

A story of moments on the edge of the abyss

It’s true. Once it is working at full capacity, we will lack (perhaps) these moments of “SOS” when the resources of the Casa Madre of Tuparenda run out for lack of state subsidies, for Covid, for whatever, and when once again, all this great community of solidarity around CMT seems to be shouting: No, we will not let it fail; no, we will not leave our children in the lurch; and yes, against all odds, we will try the impossible and seek donations.

 

Bakery training at CMT

Towards self-sustainability

From the beginning, and in each of these moments, the plan to achieve, one day, self-sustainability grew. To get closer to this goal, as a first big step, there is already the bakery, which will offer jobs to young graduates of the CMT program and, with the sale of its products, will be able to generate a constant income.

“This long-awaited project arises in response to the first step of generating a sustainable micro-enterprise that can respond to the needs of the program itself, which has been taking place in recent times, in relation to a rapid exit from employment of underage graduates and also to provide economic support for the maintenance of CMT,” explained Ricardo Acosta in the first shovelful of the work, on December 12, 2019.

“The bakery is not yet complete, there are still details and other parts to be finished, which for reasons of lack of money we will leave for later. But we have the well-founded hope of being able to begin production soon, and in this way come closer to the desired self-sustainability of the program,” explained Father Pedro Kühlcke. “We can buy the equipment, with the donation of the Sternsingers, once we have electricity, security, etc.”

 

The five loaves of bread in the hands of Jesus

It is one more step, a step that will allow us to offer young people who never had a real opportunity, the possibility of learning, of growing, of believing in themselves, of being able to be good parents for their families, good parents of good families, something that they themselves, in many situations, never had.

Jesus needed five loaves to feed thousands. How many loaves, from this bakery, will He need? How many “five loaves” of us, will Jesus have to work this great miracle of saving the lives of 20 young people who are now in CMT, and 20 more, and 20 more… and their families… and more…

Five loaves of bread in the hands of Jesus can change the world, but five loaves that we offer and deliver to him today.

 

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Name: Schönstatt-Patres International e. V.
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Intended use: Fr. Pedro Kühlcke, Casa Madre de Tupãrenda

Original: Spanish 2020-07-25, translated by Maria Aragón, Monterrey, México

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