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Archdiocesan Priest, Rev. Eugene R. Winkowski, Dies

Associate Pastor of Our Lady of Victory Parish in Chicago

Chicago, IL (June 1, 2017) – Rev. Eugene Richard Winkowski passed away in the afternoon of June 1, at St. Benedict Home, Niles. Fr. Winkowski, Associate Pastor of Our Lady of Victory Parish in Chicago, was 74 years old.

Fr. Winkowski was born in Chicago on November 16, 1942. He attended Holy Innocents School and St. Veronica School, both located in Chicago, for his primary education. Fr. Winkowski went on to study at Holy Trinity High School and Loyola University before graduating from the University of St. Mary of the Lake / Mundelein Seminary with a Baccalaureate of Arts degree in Philosophy.  He was ordained into the priesthood on May 12, 1971, by John Cardinal Cody, Archbishop of Chicago and celebrated his first Solemn Mass at St. Hyacinth Parish on May 30, 1971.

Fr. Winkowski served in the Archdiocese in a number of different parochial roles. He was Assistant Pastor of St. Turibius Parish in Chicago (1971-74) and of Five Holy Martyrs Parish in Chicago (1974-79). He was named Associate Pastor of St. Wenceslaus Parish in Chicago in 1979, and was appointed Pastor in 1987 and again in 1996. Fr. Winkowski became Associate Pastor of Our Lady of Victory Parish in Chicago in 2000 and remained in that role until his retirement in 2010.

Fr. James Merold, administrator of St. Patrick in Wadsworth, has known Fr. Winkowski since their first day of college in 1963 and admired his vocation. “I will always remember him as a very faithful priest,” said Fr. Merold. “He loved church music and many times he would direct the choir himself.” Fr. Merold and Fr. Winkowski would often attend each other’s Masses.  Fr. Merold will be the main celebrant and homilist at Fr. Winkowski’s Funeral Mass.

Visitation hours will be held from 9 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. on Tuesday, June 6, 2017 at Our Lady of Victory Church, 5212 West Agatite Avenue, Chicago, followed by the Funeral Mass at 11 a.m.

Interment will take place at Maryhill Cemetery, Niles.

Fr. Winkowski is survived by a brother, Edwin (Carol), and sisters, Gerry (the late Lee) Lakome, and Jackie (Ronald) Bialkowski.