Transforming lives —the last graduation of 2018 at Mother of Tupãrenda House

PARAGUAY, Ana E. Souberlich •

On 10 December 1939, the Mother Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt was crowned as Queen in recognition and gratitude for everything she had done throughout the first twenty-five years of Schoenstatt (see 2^nd Founding Document, n^o. 42). From that moment on, the title of Mother Thrice Admirable, Queen of Schoenstatt remained. Since then, the Blessed Mother has been crowned many times. Fr. Kentenich himself crowned her in Dachau as Queen of bread, at a time when hunger was extreme and threatening. Today on 10 December 2018, since coincidences don’t exist, and everything comes from Divine Providence, I firmly believe that the Blessed Mother chose this day, just like seventy-nine years ago, to crown herself again as Queen, the Queen who transforms lives by allowing the Mother of Tupãrenda House graduates to emerge as new men.  —

Ana María Acha with one of the graduates

We celebrated five participants of the program’s graduation—the last of 2018. A festive and joyful atmosphere overflowed in our house; friends and relatives joined in celebrating with the graduates.

The Vice-minister of Justice, Pascual Barrios; President of Fundaprova, Esc. Ana Maria Acha, Vice-president, Fr. Pedro Kühlcke, other council members, the Superior of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary in Paraguay, Sr. M. Clarisa Ferrer, as well as other special guests and benefactors attended.

The young men received certificates for successfully completing the program, in every area, they took at Mother of Tupãrenda House: social skills, horticulture, baking, textile and clothing manufacturing.

“The ceremony was beautiful! The boys are becoming more and more aware of the privilege that they have, and they value it more,” Ana Maria Acha commented.

Why it matters

Since August 2016, there have already been twenty-three graduates. It seems small in number, but in reality, when they are rehabilitated and re-inserted into society’s work force, these twenty-three young men represent 115 fewer assault victims per day, since as young boys they recognized that they had to steal a minimum of five times per day to survive and to resolve their consumption. If we look at it in more detail, it equals 41,975 assaults annually that now will not be committed, thanks to the fact that these twenty-three graduates have stable work or are self-employed.

Meanwhile the twenty other participants in the program equal 36,500 less assaults annually.

Besides being a house of hope for these young men that have been delinquents, Mother of Tupãrenda House also helps citizens be safer. If we add 41,975 + 36,500, 78,475 assaults are avoided annually, thanks to the opportunity these young men found here.

23 lives saved

Most certainly, we can only say: “Thank you for everything Mother, I am heartily grateful to you for everything,” since every graduate wholly gives his effort to reach the goal. In the nine months that it takes to complete the program, they have to learn everything that they had not learned in the 17 or 18 years of their lives.

It entails great effort and struggle within themselves to be able to learn and to discover the good that is in them and that they are not just an accumulation of failure and delinquency. Rather God had dreamed of them, thought about them, and created them to be something great and good. The past should be buried, since they have already paid for their mistakes by being deprived of freedom, some of them for months, others for years…

They are teen-agers like any other except in not having the opportunities to know any other road, forced to learn how to survive by themselves since they were children, going through a great deal of suffering, humiliation, and sorrow. They have profound wounds that will not heal themselves in only nine months. Only the Blessed Mother and the Good God can breathe on these wounds and heal them.

We thank God, the Blessed Mother, and those who make this noble program possible that offer opportunities to dozens of teen-agers who seek a better life.

We are grateful to everyone who makes the miracle of CMT possible through their donations— the large ones like a recent donation of more than 2,000 Euros from the inheritance of a Schoenstatt member from Germany, who only knew about Mother of Tupãrenda House through schoenstatt.org, or the smaller ones that equal a glass of milk for one of these young men. Everything adds up to help each life forward.

Bank accounts:

Paraguay

Europe

Name: Schönstatt-Patres International e. V.
IBAN: DE91 4006 0265 0003 1616 26
BIC/SWIFT: GENODEM1DKM,
Intended Use: P. Pedro Kühlcke, Casa Madre de Tupãrenda

Official Website: www.fundaprovapy.org

Christmas gifts for all

Original: Spanish, 23 December 2018. Translation: Celina M. Garza, San Antonio, TX USA. Edited: Melissa Peña-Janknegt, Elgin, TX USA