With the iconic ape-rollermobile to "bella italia or take a plane across the pond to the USA; explore the beauty of the black continent and the secrets of the middle kingdom or stay at home in "good old germany – the "minis" undertook an exciting and thrilling trip around the world on saturday from wilhelmsthal, lahm, zeyern, kronach, hofles, friesen, effelter, oberrodach and steinberg at this year’s ministrant day of the parish community of kronach. On the grounds of the kronachtalhalle, the altar boys learned about the particularities and diversity of the catholic faith in nine different countries, each with its own culture.
Open-air stations
The day began with a game in which the motto was "faith around the world" was presented. Nine imaginatively designed and supervised open-air stations provided a wealth of global information on this topic, as well as fun and sporting games and creative workshops with a competitive character. What all the tasks had in common was that not "just" the focus was not only on skill, speed and concentration, but also on teamwork and cohesion.
Slalom race and duck fishing
For example, they had to master a slalom race with a cup of water on their heads, make their way from one tree trunk disc to another using boards, and demonstrate their accuracy in throwing marbles. Exotic spices had to be recognized by smell or taste. Strong arms were needed for the mab jugging competition, while a steady hand was needed for duck fishing. Recognizing songs played backwards caused many a questioning face as well as guessing the right number of a glass filled with small round squares. Hearts were folded out of paper at record speed. The task of drawing letters blindfolded proved to be a tricky one.
A church service at the end of the day
The once again very successful ministrant’s day ended with a church service. An impressive picture emerged beforehand when all the participating "minis" in one go into the church st. Pankratius steinberg entered. The holy mass was celebrated by father waldemar brysch together with pastoral assistant sarah maria rock-damschen, who was also responsible for the main organization of the ministrant day. At the end of the service, father waldemar and altar server joachim reuther said goodbye to the two retiring altar servers from st. Martin. Pankratius, jan hofmann as well as emelie wich, with a certificate of thanks from their service. The heartfelt holy mass was joyfully framed by the sanger silvia wachter with modern spiritual songs.
Minis from friesland win the race again
Afterwards, the secret was revealed as to which group had won the ministrant’s day and was thus allowed to take over the winner’s flag. The flag was used as a trophy at the first ministrant’s day in 2007, at that time in lahm, created. "Defending champion the "minis" were from friesen, who had won the race two years ago – and this year, too, the altar boys from the floberort were not to be beaten, so that they were allowed to keep the challenge cup winner’s flag for the next two years as well. This was followed by the minis from st. Johannes kronach as well as st. Marien hofles on the second and third goals. But all the other groups also performed excellently, and in the end everyone agreed that "the main thing was that we were there."
The eventful day, which was blessed with beautiful late summer weather, ended with a social get-together and a tent camp at the kronachtal hall.
Participating minis/parishes of the parish community of kronach: st. Peter and paul effelter (station germany), st. Georg friesen (station italy), st. Marien hofles (station USA), st. Johannes kronach (station russia), st. Agidius lahm (station africa), heilig kreuz oberrodach (station china), st. Pankratius steinberg (panama station), st. St. Joseph wilhelmsthal (station india), st. Leonhard zeyern (columbia station).
