> I do have a template match for <para> in my style
> sheet. 

a template is only used if you apply templates to a matching node with
the xsl:apply-templates instruction.

You used xsl:copy-of so no templates were used, and the para element
(and any other children of the a element) was copied to the result
document.

It's probably worth first (while debugging) running your stylesheet just
with an XSLt processor so that you can see the XSL-Fo output as an XMl
file rather than using a setup that directly passes the result document
to an FO rendering system.


David