Msgr. Michael J. Winterer recalled as a priest who ‘embodied missionary zeal’

Friday, Oct. 18, 2024

SALT LAKE CITY — Monsignor Michael J. Winterer, a beloved priest of the Diocese of Salt Lake City who died Sept. 29, was laid to rest following a Mass of Christian Burial, celebrated Oct. 15 at the Cathedral of the Madeleine. 

Msgr. Winterer “embodied a missionary zeal, a life forged in prayer, and he was a heavenly dwelling place built by God,” Father John Evans, vicar general, said at the vigil the preceding evening that was attended by Bishop Oscar A. Solis, vicars general emeriti Monsignor Colin F. Bircumshaw and Monsignor J. Terrence Fitzgerald, cathedral rector Father Martin Diaz and several priests of the diocese.

“The thing about Msgr. Mike, as so many of us called him, we knew him to be a great man of prayer,” Fr. Evans said. “We knew him to have no guile, no pretense, just like pulling up in a pickup truck and setting up an altar for those who thirsted for God. He never really made a big deal of titles and honors, but he did embody the missionary zeal and a life forged in prayer, a spirituality that would begin to pour out of him more and more with each passing year as he aged.”

Bishop Solis celebrated the Oct. 15 funeral Mass. Concelebrants included Fr. Evans, Msgr. Bircumshaw, Msgr. Fitzgerald, Fr. Diaz, Father Kenneth Vialpando, vicar for clergy, and more than 30 priests of the diocese.

“Msgr. Mike was a good, faithful and zealous servant of God until the end of his life,” Bishop Solis said in his homily. “He continued to celebrate or concelebrate the holy Mass at St. Joseph Villa almost daily. He continued to exercise his pastoral ministry in his retirement, serving with such great commitment, reaching out to priests and laity, providing spiritual direction, and most of all, the availability of reconciliation, the Sacrament of Confession.”

“Monsignor. Mike was a holy, prayerful, humble and faithful priest who helped instill in me that blessed confidence in the infinite love and mercy of God for sinners,” Bishop Solis said of the priest who was his personal confessor and spiritual director. “For his wisdom, prayerful guidance and inspiration that gave me hope and courage, as well as joy in his friendship during difficult moments of my own priesthood life, for the many blessings we received from Msgr. Mike, we join his family with great gratitude. We will cherish all the beautiful memories we share with all of us here present and with many others whose lives he touched.” 

Michael James Winterer was born on March 9, 1933 in Milwaukee, Wisc. to Lawrence William Winterer and Mary Ellen Mellon Winterer. When he was 2, the family moved to Salt Lake City, his mother’s hometown. He attended grade school at the old Judge Memorial Elementary School for seven years, until the family moved to Carrington, N.D. There he became an altar boy at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. 

After his family returned to Salt Lake City in 1949, Msgr. Winterer entered preparatory studies at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Mountain View, Calif. In September 1954, he entered St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, Calif., where he completed his training. He was ordained a priest at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City on April 30, 1960, by Bishop Joseph Lennox Federal. 

Msgr. Winterer assisted at the cathedral until his first assignment as a parish priest and teacher at St. Joseph Parish, Ogden. He then served as parochial vicar at St. Ambrose Parish in Salt Lake City, followed by a time as parochial vicar at St. Marguerite’s in Tooele. He was the parish administrator at St. Helen’s in Roosevelt, followed by service as the chaplain at the Holy Cross and veterans affairs hospitals in Salt Lake City. He then returned to St. Helen’s as pastor for two years before spending five years in a contemplative hermitage in Sedona, Ariz., Nova Scotia, Canada, and St. George Island, Md. 

Msgr. Winterer conducted many priest and lay retreats through the years and taught at Our Lady of the Mountains Retreat House in Ogden. He served as pastor of the parishes of St. Patrick (Eureka), St. Elizabeth (Richfield), St. Marguerite (Tooele), St. James the Greater (Vernal) and San Felipe (Wendover). He also was dean of the Southwest Deanery from 1985 until 1987 and served on the Priests’ Personnel Board. In addition, he served as parochial vicar for St. Thomas More Parish in Sandy, as administrator at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Salt Lake City and as a member of the diocesan vocations board. 

His final assignment was as pastor of Christ the King Parish in Cedar City, where he ministered for 15 years and, together with the people, built a new church there. On April 15, 2005, Msgr. Winterer received a Vatican papal honor from the Apostolic Nunciature of the United States of America conferring on him the title of Chaplain to His Holiness.  

During his 64 years of priesthood, Msgr. Winterer served in many missions and rural communities, such as Milford, Beaver, Panguitch, Kanab, Escalate and Goshen. When he retired from active ministry in 2011, he continued to be involved in the lives of the parishioners at St. Ann Catholic Church in Salt Lake City, in all the mission parishes and in spiritual direction anywhere he was needed.

Committal at Mt. Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Salt Lake City followed the funeral Mass.