Catholics Can Mass honors Msgr. Winterer

Friday, Oct. 30, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY – Dozens of congratulatory cards were made by the students at Kearns-St. Ann School to be presented to Monsignor Michael Winterer, a retired priest who is in residence at St. Ann Parish, in recognition of his being named a recipient of the 2015 Catholics Can Award.

Msgr. Winterer was presented with the cards and the award during an Oct. 25 Mass at Saint Ann’s.

At the Mass, Carol Ruddell, past president of the Diocese of Salt Lake City Commission for People with Disabilities, presented the Catholics Can Award; it recognizes individuals who seek to include all people in active parish life, as well as individuals with disabilities who are strong witnesses to the faith. 

Cheryl Heyborne and Delfina Cook were the other two recipients of this year’s Catholic Can Awards. They received the honors during two other  Masses.

Msgr. Winterer said that both women are very spiritual persons who offer “tremendous Christian service, and I thought it was very humbling to be among them. … This award was an expression of service of a wider family, the family of the diocese.”

Msgr. Winterer was ordained in 1960 and retired in 2011, “but that word, ‘retirement,’ hasn’t slowed him down at all,” Ruddell said before the award was presented. “In fact, the reason we are here at St. Ann’s today is because he was unable to attend the two previous Catholics Can Masses held this month in Kearns and Cedar City. Always on the go, doing what needs to be done and filling the need where it’s seen – that’s Msgr. Mike.”

Members of Msgr. Winterer’s family as well as friends and community members attended the Oct. 25 Mass at which he was recognized. Since 1960 he has served in many diocesan parishes and missions.

“He’s also served as chaplain at the veteran’s medical center and the old Holy Cross hospital. … Going where he is called means finding unconventional ways to share the Good News, which includes offering Mass from the back of his truck when the Catholic community had no church in which to meet. He truly is an evangelizer of God’s word, love and mercy,” said Ruddell at the Mass.

Msgr. Winterer has also served as a retreat master as well as the diocesan vocations director and dean of the Southwest Deanery, and on the Priests’ Personnel Board.

 “When you shake his hand or share a warm hug, you know the love of both God and Msgr. Mike,” Ruddell said. “Each and every person is always welcomed and included in the prayer of the Church. And when the needs are more than spiritual, he’s always there to meet their physical and emotional needs as well.”