Year in Review 2018 - Twinning Update!

2018 proved to be a fruitful year for our sisters and brothers in Paraguay!

You can "befriend" La Capilla Santa Ana on Facebook for real time updates on our Twining Parish.

On this page, we will share pictures from Parish life, an update on the 2016 Lenten Hope construction project, and with in conjunction with our IC Parish theme of "Discipleship: Magnifying the Lord", we will dive into the background story of the devotion to Our Lady of Ca'acupe in Paraguay.

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Preparing for Christmas with a Live Nativity

Grandparents' Day in conjunction with the Feast Day of Santa Ana y San Joaquin, Patron Saints of Grandparents

First Communicants 2018

Father Daniel, an Argentinean priest serving at our Twinning Parish, shares a little about Mary through a video catechism lesson on Facebook. (click on the picture to be taken to the link.) The video was originally posted in association with the larger Parish of San Lorenzo connected to La Capilla Santa Ana.

CONSTRUCTION UPDATE

Dia del Niño - August, 2018

A portion of the funds raised during the 2016 Lenten Hope Project at Immaculate Conception Church was donated to La Capilla Santa Ana to help construct a roof on the back area of the church.  Thanks to multiple fundraising efforts in Paraguay and to the many generous donors in Dayton, the roof construction was completed in July of 2018!

The vibrant church community inaugurated this useful space during the celebration of the Feast of Santa Ana on July 26th, and has since held multiple faith formation classes, social events, and (pictured) a lively Dia del Niño celebration on August 16th.


An Answer to Prayer  and a Fulfilled Dream!

DEVOTION to NUESTRA SEÑORA del CA'ACUPE

Devotion to Mary as the Mother of God and the ideal disciple of Jesus is integral to Catholic faith in general, but the people of Latin America have a very special connection to Mary through her apparitions which cross and eliminate cultural boundaries.

Similar to the better known Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, Paraguayans have a strong devotion to Mary through the apparition of the Lady of Ca'acupe to a man from the native Guarani tribe.  Here is a summary of the story, translated from aciprensa.com:

"At the end of the sixteenth century, a man named Jose, a Native American convert to Catholicism and a sculptor by trade, was journeying over a mountain where he was threatened by members of a rival Mbaya tribe. He managed to escape and hid behind a thick tree trunk. In the anguished moments that he spent in his hiding place, he asked the Virgin Mary to save him from the imminent danger. Once he escaped, he carved an image of Mary with the same tree trunk that had sheltered him while he asked the Virgin Mary to protect him.

In the year 1603 the lake Tapaicuá overflowed and flooded all the valley of Pirayú sweeping everything that was in its way including the image of the Virgin. However, when the waters receded miraculously, the image of the Virgin that the Indian had carved appeared. The inhabitants began to spread their devotion and began to invoke the image with the name of "Virgen de los Milagros" (the Lady of Miracles). Jose carved a second statue which became the image of Our Lady of Caacupé. The statue is small, just over fifty centimeters and rests in the Basilica with the same name in the city of Ca'acupe, which means "Just over the mountain" (the same mountain where Jose was protected.)

Every December 8th the feast of Mary of Caacupé is celebrated and the pilgrims arrive by thousands to the Shrine to show their love and gratitude to the Mother of all, to the "Virgen de los Milagros".


The pictures below show pilgrims en-route to show their devotion to the Lady of Ca'acupe.

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