Inside It’s All Good Columnist Patti Lamb reminds us that every life is ‘fragile’ and must be handled with Criterion care, page 12. Serving the Church in Central and Souther n Indiana Since 1960 CriterionOnline.com August 6, 2010 Vol. L, No. 43 75¢ Vatican condemns use of embryonic stem cells in Photo courtesy Archabbey of Saint Meinrad clinical tests on humans VATICAN CITY (CNS)—The Vatican condemned the recent decision by U.S. regulators to begin using embryonic stem cells in clinical tests on human patients. The destruction of human embryos involved in such research amounts to “the sacrifice of human beings,” and is to be condemned, said the Bishop Elio Sgreccia president emeritus of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Bishop Elio Sgreccia. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave final approval for a clinical trial of embryonic stem cells as a treatment for patients with spinal-cord injuries, making the United States the first country to allow the testing of such cells on human beings. Geron Corp., the U.S. company which won the FDA approval, plans to perform tests on patients paralyzed by a spinal cord injury. The company had won FDA approval early Retired Father Hilary Meny concelebrates a Mass on June 23 at the Archabbey Church of Our Lady of Einsiedeln in St. Meinrad during a convocation of last year but, after mice treated with the cells archdiocesan priests held there. During the meeting, Father Meny was honored for his 70 years of priestly life and ministry. developed spinal cysts, the government put the clinical trials on hold amid concerns over the safety of the procedure. The new government- Hard lessons learned during the Depression approved trials aim to test the therapy’s safety on humans as well as its effectiveness. In a July 31 interview with Vatican Radio, aid priest in ministry for the past 70 years Bishop Sgreccia said science itself recognizes By Sean Gallagher 95, has lived for the last two decades electricity in his hometown. the human embryo “is a human being in around the block from the home in which He repainted the parish church on his the making.” HAUBSTADT—Father Hilary Meny he was born in 1915 and where he learned own, sometimes climbing up a 60-foot Destroying embryos “receives a completely entered Saint Meinrad Seminary in those lessons so long ago. extension ladder to do so. negative judgment” from an ethical point of St. Meinrad just weeks before the stock He moved there after he retired And Father Meny led the effort to view, no matter what justifications are given for market crash of 1929. from active ministry in 1990. For some establish Father Michael Shawe Memorial their use, he said. During the Great Depression that four decades before that, he had served as Jr./Sr. High School and Pope John XXIII The Italian bishop said embryonic stem cells followed, he learned many hard lessons the pastor of the former St. Patrick Parish School, both in Madison, and he continues have not been proven to be effective in about faithfulness, perseverance, in Madison. to support them today. therapies. He said embryonic stem cells are stewardship and flexibility. Faithfulness. Perseverance. Stewardship. Flexibility. “totipotent,” that is, they tend to reproduce a These and many other qualities define But during those years in ministry along whole organism or individual, but not the life and ministry of Father Meny, only the Ohio River, Father Meny was more Lessons learned at home specialized cells. the second priest in the history of the than simply a pastor. Father Meny may have learned to have However, even if there were positive results Archdiocese of Indianapolis to mark He personally rewired the parish church the flexibility to accomplish so many jobs from the use of such cells, “morally it would 70 years as a priest and rectory—a skill he had seen his father at once while still being faithful to God still be a crime,” he said. Ordained in 1940, Father Meny, now use when houses were first being wired for when he was a boy growing up in The Church supports research and therapies See MENY, page 2 that utilize adult stem cells and stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood. † Conversion: Ancient maximum security prison in Rome went from pagan to sacred Christian site VATICAN CITY (CNS)—Tradition holds that St. Peter was jailed in Rome’s maximum security Mamertine Prison before he was crucified upside down and buried on the hill where St. Peter’s Basilica was later built. CNS photo/Paul Haring CNS photo/Paul And now, after recent excavations in Rome’s oldest prison, archaeologists say they have uncovered evidence that, while not providing direct proof, does support that belief. The prison, which lies beneath the Church of St. Joseph of the Carpenters facing the Roman Forum, was closed for the past year as experts dug up old floors and picked away plaster. They found and restored a 14th-century fresco of Jesus with his arm around a smiling St. Peter and an 11th-century fresco of Jesus with the oldest known image of the Campidoglio, Rome’s city hall, behind him. Patrizia Fortini from the city of Rome’s department of archaeological heritage led the excavation and restoration project. She told journalists on July 27 they found proof that the site had been a A bust of St. Peter holding keys is seen on the top level of the ancient place for venerating St. Peter by the seventh century, lending support Mamertine prison in Rome on July 27. Tradition holds that St. Peter was to historical accounts that he had been incarcerated there. held in the prison before he was crucified. Recent excavations support The prison has two levels: the upper chamber called the “Carcer” that belief. See CONVERSION, page 8 Page 2 The Criterion Friday, August 6, 2010 The east side parish had scores of families, many of Irish descent, at that MENY time. St. Philip Neri had five priests and continued from page 1 33 members of the Sisters of Providence Submitted photo Haubstadt. of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods on its “As a boy, from the sixth grade on, they pastoral staff. had distribution of Communion at 6 [a.m.], But it was also highly in debt at the or just about at that time,” he said. “Of time—to the tune of $287,000, according course, I only lived half a block from the to Father Meny. church. So I’d be at church for Communion While ministering there, St. Philip’s in the morning. pastor at the time, Father Albert Busald, put “Then, after that, I’d come home. Father Meny in charge of a weekly lottery Then I’d do the grocery shopping and the to help pay for parish expenses and reduce meat market buying for my mother. And its debt. I’d go to the post office. In those days, they But the parish was rich in young men didn’t have house delivery. who were open to the priesthood. “So I’d run. The According to people would see me Father Meny, St. Philip like a streak of lightning, ‘He affected our lives at one time had running down the street. so much, and was so 38 seminarians in I became the fastest formation at runner [at] SS. Peter and interested in Saint Meinrad. Paul School.” everything that we did One of them was Father Meny slowed that it was hard for us Benedictine Father down enough, though, to Timothy Sweeney, a watch his hardworking not to use him as an previous archabbot of Above, in this historic photo, Father Hilary father, Bernard, take example in our own Saint Meinrad Meny, right, assists Felix Gettelfinger in care of his family home. faith. He did give us Archabbey, who said Submitted photo fixing a screen door at Father Michael Shawe His father wired the Father Meny influenced Memorial Jr./Sr. High School in Madison. house for electricity and guidance as to how to him in his vocational Father Meny, who helped found the school in painted it. He was also a live our life in a discernment. 1954, retired from active ministry in 1990. good carpenter and “Certainly, his cabinet maker. And Catholic way.’ example was Left, Father Hilary Meny, right, enjoys a meal during the Depression, outstanding,” in the late 1960s at the Clifty Inn in Madison. he learned to repair — Carolyn Pagel Father Timothy said. Joining him for the meal are, from left, clocks and watches to “He was a very quiet Father Richard Lawler, Father Richard supplement his family’s man. He didn’t yell or Grogan and Paul Scully. Father Meny was income. shout. And clearly he was, as a young pastor of the former St. Patrick Parish in “It rubbed off,” Father Meny said. “I’d person, very devoted to being a priest.” Madison from 1949 until he retired from watch him, and copied him and so on.” Father Meny also ministered at active ministry in 1990. After graduating from the eighth grade St. Philip throughout World War II, a time at SS. Peter and Paul School in Haubstadt, when he witnessed many marriages. Archbishop Schulte of leading a helped establish for Madison’s Catholic Father Meny entered Saint Meinrad “… There were times at St. Philip Neri fundraising drive to build a new Catholic schools, which is operated by the Seminary. Although 50 miles from home, when I had three marriages on a weekend,” high school in Madison. Friends of Shawe and Pope John School.