PARAGUAY, Ani Souberlich • For a long time, we have wished that more people in Paraguay would get to know our house and come into contact with the young people who participate in our program and tell us about their daily lives. This exchange, this meeting of hearts, through which many more people can share and support this great work of mercy, because it is very different to only hear about something than to actually be there, and as our Father Joseph Kentenich said, “You only love what you know.”
Read More PARAGUAY, Ani Souberlich • At the beginning of this year, we have seen great changes in the immediate environment of Casa Madre de Tupãrenda (CMT): the departure of Father Pedro Kühlcke and his departure to Germany, the dismissal of several staff members for economic reasons…. But despite all these obstacles, we have seen rays of hope for the program, which in the six years of its existence has already produced fifty-four graduates, joined today by four others who, with many sacrifices, have reached the goal. — Each graduation is a
Read More PARAGUAY, Ani Souberlich • Does anyone have information about Casa Madre de Tupãrenda? How is Casa Madre de Tupãrenda doing? How are the staff and the youth? Nothing has appeared on schoenstatt.org this year. The institutional website has not been updated for years, what is going on? Such questions and concerns were expressed again and again. The honest answer: we closed the year 2022 with great difficulties. — “We reorganized ourselves even before Father Pedro left, and we continue to work despite all the difficulties, even though the state withdrew
Read More PARAGUAY, Ricardo Acosta • The month of May has given us the first gifts of the year 2022. Last Friday the 13th, three new graduates joined the more than 50 graduates of FUNDAPROVA’s House Mother of Tupãrenda program. The event took place in the occasion of the awarding of the certificates of the program and of the Horticulture and Bakery courses of Sinafocal, in the presence of the authorities of both institutions. — This emotional act was accompanied by family, friends and loved ones of the new graduates. The audacity
Read More PARAGUAY, Roberto M. González • Our story of the visit to Casa Madre de Tupãrenda (CMT), by the president Dr. César Diesel and the second vice-president, Prof. Dr. Luis María Benítez Riera (period 2021-2022), of the Supreme Court of Justice, had its central point on February 15, 2022. — At the end of the visit, a commitment was made to sign an agreement between CMT and the Supreme Court of Justice. After preliminary exchanges on the points of the agreement to be signed, a final draft was ready. A few
Read More Matias, one of the young people from Casa Madre de Tupãrenda (CMT), Paraguay • Hello, how are you? I am Matías, I am 19 years old and today I want to tell you about my experience. — When I was 12 years old, I became addicted to drugs. A buddy, a friend from the street, took me to La Chacarita to save, as we call it (it means steal). We went to La Chacarita – which is the poorest and most criminal neighborhood of Asunción – and after that I
Read More PARAGUAY, Casa Madre de Tupãrenda, Fr. Pedro Kühlcke / Maria Fischer • 15 September marked the first anniversary — in the midst of a pandemic with all of its restrictions — of “Emprendimientos Madre de Tupãrenda (EMT)” [Madre de Tupãrenda Ventures], a socially minded company that has two main goals: To provide dignified work at a professional bakery to some of the graduates of Casa Madre de Tupãrenda and to make our program of social and employment reintegration self-sustainable. — The day was celebrated with a thanksgiving Mass and a
Read More PARAGUAY, Casa Madre de Tupãrenda (CMT), Alicia Gómez and Minerva Leguizamón • On 9 June 2021, two boys who were part of the Casa Madre de Tupãrenda program, Fabián and Braian, received the sacraments of baptism, first communion and confirmation. They chose Lourdes (Skills teacher) and Rosi (Baking teacher) as their godmothers. — There is no perfect time to join and be part of God’s flock. Baptism is a person’s new beginning. Fabián and Braian made the decision to take this step to change their lives by also sealing their
Read More PARAGUAY, Casa Madre de Tupãrenda / Maria Fischer • On August 22, four years ago, the doors of the Casa Madre de Tupãrenda , a house for adolescents leaving the Itauguá Educational Cente (read: youth jail), were opened. The dream so longed for was becoming a reality for those who, Saturday after Saturday, stood firm to bring a snack to the adolescents of the Educational Center. On each visit they were soaked in the stories and realities of each of those who were “inside”, and often witnessed the frequent “comings
Read More 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
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