CEDAR CITY — At 30,000 miles per year, he would have hit silver medallion level if he was flying Delta. But Father Mike isn't looking for special check-in privileges, preferred boarding or priority seating. He's doing his miles the hard way, on the road, again.
As the shepherd of what may be Utah's most far-flung Catholic flock, Father Mike Winterer is the man in black for 13,000 square miles of sagebrush- and red-rock-covered territory stretching from Cedar City to Panguitch to Escalante to Bryce Canyon to Duck Creek and back. Between travel, confession and Mass, you might say the leader of Christ the King Catholic Parish doesn't have a prayer of finding time for anything else.
And you'd be wrong.
Having sold its half of the city-center church his congregation shares with St. Jude's Episcopal Church to the other congregation earlier this year, Father Mike is working on plans for a new $3.6 million church, parish hall and rectory on a five-acre plot in southwest Cedar City. Though his far-flung congregation numbers about 300 families, he's building the new church to seat 600. With numbers that have nearly doubled in the past four years, "We're planning for the future," he says, noting the parish has already raised $2.7 million.
He's also doing Bible study with inmates in Cedar City and Panguitch, planning fund-raisers for the new buildings and overseeing what is arguably the church's most thriving enterprise — Ye Olde Catholic Thrift Shop at 76 E. Center.
Oh, and come September, he'll fire up the Newman Club for college students at Southern Utah University. Then, beginning in November, he'll throw in a Saturday night Mass at Brian Head for the skiers in town.
"Sleeping in" and "vacation" are not in his vocabulary. "Hard work" and "long hours" define his life.
"I'll just keep going until the Lord takes me someplace else," he says quietly, amused that anyone would question why he works so long and so hard in a vocation that continually goes begging for lack of interested recruits. "When you are called by God, that's what you do."
His tenacity has spilled over to members of his congregation, who operate a thrift shop Father Mike suggested that has long outgrown the small storefront it started in four years ago.
According to lead volunteer Pat Sproul, there was never any question in the priest's mind about whether his congregants could pull it off, even when they themselves wondered. No one had any retail or thrift shop experience when they started.
"We were worried that after each of us had cleaned out our closets a couple of times, we wouldn't have anything left to sell. As you can see, that's not been a problem," Sproul grinned during a tour through the 5,000-square-foot thrift shop that carries everything from toys and furniture to clothing, jewelry, electronics and antiques.
"We've moved into the hairdresser's" adjacent space in the storefront at 76 E. Center, "and the (home) builders next door keep telling us they're going to put up a firewall so we don't take over their space."
Some 40 volunteers operate the shop, which turns its perpetually growing inventory over every few weeks. Any clothing that remains after two months is packaged and shipped to other agencies in need, including the women's crisis center and a nearby Indian reservation. The remaining items go to another thrift shop in Las Vegas "where they take everything we send them" via a volunteer parishioner who travels there on business.
The volunteers range from junior high school age during summers to Sproul's 83-year-old mother, who works at home measuring yardage of donated cloth so it can be packaged and sold. Other home-based volunteers wash and press clothing, and clean and test toys.
Local social service agencies often send clients whose needs are so great they can't afford to pay even thrift shop prices. "If people do need things, we just give it to them," Father Mike says, a gentle lilt in his voice. "We ask people not to steal from us. If they're in need, we're here to help."
Sproul finds a lot of satisfaction in working with clients from the Iron County Care and Share and other local agencies. "It always feels good" when they come in and find what they need, she says. "It's nice to do it in a manner that they still feel good about themselves. We like to be some small kind of easy turn in their lives." In keeping with their desire to provide dignity for all, the store even pays one client to shine shoes for 50 cents a pair.
Though there is a large LDS Church-owned Deseret Industries thrift shop in town, Sproul says the two potential competitors often refer their customers to the other store for merchandise they can't find.
"I don't know if it's just because people are so kind that they want to see anyone succeed. In this community, it hasn't mattered what denomination you are. It's been a true mixture of people that donate that says something really great about Cedar City."
The shop makes enough money to pay the bills and put the rest toward the building fund, Sproul said. But more than that, it serves a real need in the community — a need Father Mike saw years ago.
"A lot of the people that shop here need to shop here. We really fill a true need for a lot of large or low-income families. We try hard to keep the prices as low as possible. We want to put some money in the bank" for the building fund, "but it doesn't matter to us how much" as long as their clients are taken care of.
It's a philosophy that rests at the heart of this soft-spoken priest's ministry of simply but fully caring for those who come into his fold. The priesthood is a "presence ministry" much like a mother has with her children, he says. . . . "that people just want to be with you."
And if you're Father Mike, you go find them — wherever they are.
E-mail: carrie@desnews.com