Three parish priests lay down their shepherd's staffs - Msgr. Winterer

Intermountain Catholic

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Msgr. Winterer

CEDAR CITY — With his soft voice and unassuming manner, his white beard and twinkling eyes, he gives the appearance of a kindly, long-serving parish priest. He‘s universally known as Father Mike, although he is in fact a lecturer on the Carmelite mystics and has been named Chaplain to His Holiness because of his service to the Church.

"Even after receiving that honor, he shunned that title; he didn’t want people to call him ‘Monsignor,’" said Deacon Denny Davies of Monsignor Michael Winterer, pastor of Christ the King Parish in Cedar City. "Nobody down here calls him ‘Monsignor.’"

"He’s very humble, he‘s very kind," agreed Emily Shakespeare, a member of Saint Gertrude Parish in Panguich, who has known Fr. Mike since he became the mission’s pastor in 1996. "I’ve never, ever seen him anything but kind. Never. Ever."

Fr. Mike was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Salt Lake City in 1960 and for almost 50 years has been dedicated to Utah‘s missions.

Monsignor J. Terrence Fitzgerald, now the diocese’s vicar general and vicar for clergy, grew up with Fr. Mike in Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Salt Lake City and said he always has been inspired by Fr. Mike’s "complete dedication to the Church. There is nothing that is more important to him than spreading the faith and preaching the Gospel and trying to share with others the tremendous love he has for the saints and all of those who have been witnesses of faith.

"Msgr. Winterer is truly a great missionary," Msgr. Fitzgerald added. "He will make any sacrifice day or night, or travel miles, to assist one person in need. He is truly an example to all of us of the patron of parish priests, Saint John Vianney."

Most of the diocese’s missions have been in Fr. Mike’s care at one point or another; among other assignments he has been pastor of Saint Helen in Roosevelt, Saint Patrick in Eureka, and Saint Elizabeth in Richfield, with its associated missions in Ephraim, Gunnison and Torrey. He also has served in Fillmore and Delta.

Early in his priestly career he took a leave of absence to spend five years at hermitages in Nova Scotia, Arizona and Maryland, and he continues to seek God in silence as he drives the hundreds of miles between southern Utah’s missions.

"My car is a hermitage on wheels," he joked. "I love the missions all over the diocese, all of the different ones. I am a missionary at heart. In the missions, oftentimes, because of lack of resources, people come to the priest to do things."

He believes a mission priest must constantly be ready to serve parishioners, who don’t have the resources that are at hand in urban areas. "If a priest isn’t available, where do they go?" he asked. "If he doesn’t take care of them, who will?"

But now, after 50 years of responding to the needs of his flock, Fr. Mike is retiring, to his parishioners’ disappointment.

"Nobody wants him to go," said James Houston, a Saint Gertrude parishioner. "We just don’t want him to go. Where can you find a better priest? He’s nice to everybody. He treats everybody the same."

Because of Fr. Mike, "the parishioners of Christ the King know that we are special in the eyes of our God," said Pat Sproul, chair of the parish’s finance committee and manager of the thrift store.

Deacon Denny, who chose to serve in Cedar City because it was Fr. Mike’s parish, said the priest not only preaches that individuals are special, "he lives that theme. That in my mind makes him a great shepherd. There are going to be a lot of tearful eyes around here when he retires, and yet everybody wants the absolute best for him after all these years and his age and everything. We wish him Godspeed."

As he looks back on his years of service, Fr. Mike doesn‘t count his accomplishments. "I would leave that up to God," he said. "I hope I’ve served well. I don’t keep books. I would hope that God kept the books for me."