Cardinal Enters With Clown On

He found the right words for the kids:  "It's like we're dead, tired, lame ducks, when we don't have the Holy Spirit".

(kreuz.net) Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne preached with a clown puppet in his right hand.

The reason for this was the opening of the 52nd Star Singer Event.  In the Cathedral of Cologne there were  3000 Star Singers from the whole Archdiocese of Cologne.

The Cardinal arrived around 11.00 for the excited children.

For the address he used a clown puppet.

He showed the children first how the puppet is sleepy and powerless  "She's really down, but there's no life in her. "

Then the Cardinal shoved his hand in the puppet in order to get her to stand up.

With that he explained:  "We are dead, tired, lame ducks, if we don't have the Holy Ghost."

The motto for this year's event was "Children Show Strength".

"I wish you to have steady footing, strong legs in this cold and ice,"  said the Archbishop:  "stand up and bring people the blessing."

In the next days Star Singer will collect for children in need in their 546 communities.

In the last year in the Archdiocese of Cologne 2,58 Million Euro was collected all-together.

Throughout Germany about a half-million children participate in this event.