Bro. Mark, Others Pursue 'Trivia' in Indonesia

Here's a bit of Capuchin trivia which Bro. Mark Schenk of the Mid- American province uncovered on his recent general visitation of the Pontianak province in Indonesia and posted on Aug. 16: A parish served by the friars of the Pontianak province in an area called Tebet, a Jakarta suburb, has a school under the patronage of Saint Francis of Assisi, and one of its former students was a lad called Barack Obama. Yes, the one who is running for U.S. president. For much more about Mark's visit to Indonesia, click here.
Mark should have probed a bit further, however. According to a story posted Aug. 17 on WorldNetDaily, the Tebet school's records show Obama was registered at the school under the name Barry Soetoro by his stepfather, Lolo Soetoro. The school card lists Barry Soetoro as a Indonesian citizen born Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. His religion is listed as Muslim. An Associated Press photograph taken in 2007 by Tatan Syuflana, an Indonesian AP reporter and photographer, surfaced in early August on the Daylife.com photographic website showing an image of Obama's registration card at Indonesia's Fransiskus Assisi school. For more on this, click here

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Capuchin Bishop Wilhelm Egger,Pope Benedict's Host On His Recent Vacation In Northern Italy, Dies

Pope Benedict XVI is mourning the death of a Capuchin bishop who was his host during an Alpine vacation this month.

Benedict told pilgrims at his summer palace in Castel Gandolfo near Rome that he felt "profound emotion" when he learned of the death Saturday night of 68-year-old Bressanone Bishop Wilhelm Egger. Benedict said on Sunday that when he bid goodbye to the bishop on Aug. 11 in the mountain town that Egger seemed to be in good health.

Italian news reports said Egger died of a heart attack. Egger, a native of Innsbruck, Austria, was bishop of the German-speaking town in Italy's South Tyrol region.

Benedict's maternal grandmother was born near Bressanone, and the pope vacationed in the area many times when he was a German cardinal.

Bishop Egger, a world-renowned Scripture scholar, became a Capuchin in 1956 and a bishop in 1986.

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