Name: Munshower, William (Bill)
Born: 02/03/1932
Where Born: Indianapolis, Indiana
Ordained: 05/03/1958
Where Ordained: St. Meinrad, Indiana
Served From-To: 1958-2015
Died: 04/14/2020
Where Died: Indianapolis, Indiana
Buried: Priest’s Circle, Calvary Cemetery, Indianapolis “Father William Glenn “”Bill”” Munshower
Father William “”Bill”” Glenn Munshower
Indianapolis – age 88, of Indianapolis, Indiana passed away on Tuesday April 14, 2020. He was Ordained on May 3, 1958. Father Bill was born February 23, 1932 in Indianapolis, Indiana to the late Katherine (Ashcraft) Munshower and William Glenn Munshower. He is also preceded in death by his brother, Frank Forest Munshower; nephew, Bernard Delaney; and brother-in-law, Dick Delaney.
Father Bill began his education at Holy Cross Grade School. Soon he transferred to St. Anthony. He went to Cathedral High School where he was to be the student body president his senior year. While at Cathedral, he participated in a demonstration with other Cathedral students at Brown County State Park. At the time, everyone was admitted to the park, but black people were not allowed in the pool. So began his life long Christian goal of promoting social justice. In 1963 he went to The March on Washington to advocate for civil rights of African-Americans. After Cathedral he attended St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. Two years later he would transfer to St. Meinrad to begin his priestly formation.
His assignments were to St. Paul, Tell City 1958; St. Thomas Aquianas, Indianapolis 1971; chaplain of the Newman Center at Indiana State University, Terre Haute 1973; pastor at Holy Spirit, Indianapolis 1981; dean of Indianapolis East Deanery, administrator at St. Agnes, Nashville, continuing as pastor at Holy Spirit 1984; pastor at St. Thomas Aquinas, Indianapolis 1994; chaplain at Cathedral High School, Indianapolis 2006; part-time sacramental minister at St. Andrew the Apostle, Indianapolis 2009 until he fully retired in 2015.
He loved classical music and traveling. A very avid student of learning, he was always reading about music, history, and geography. He traveled to Ethiopia to visit his brother, John, who was in the Peace Corps and he took a sabbatical to Italy in 1993. His beloved Ireland was a desired destination with his mother and sister. His friend Father Theo acted as his guide through India. He also made several trips to Europe with various groups, one time including his nieces, Jane and Becky.
Father Bill is survived by a large and mournful family who will miss him greatly including sister, Anne (Munshower) Delaney; brother, John Munshower (Marcia Ward); sister, Christine Munshower; sister-in-law, Eileen (Doherty) Munshower; nieces and nephews he was very fond and proud of, most he baptized, Maureen (Delaney) Simon (Joe), Rebecca (Delaney) Visconti (Frank), Shaleen (Delaney) Brewer (Bill), Justin Delaney (Marisol Zell), Kathleen (Munshower) Forte (Tony), Jane (Munshower) VerValin (Steve), Teresa (Munshower) Miller (Karl), Frank Munshower (Susan Meyers), Eric Munshower (Judy Kenney), Najla (Munshower) Neuman (Jon), Rachel (Munshower) Fox (Scotty), Juliette (Munshower) Tiriolo (Frank), William Glenn Munshower (Anjuli); niece-in-law, Jeanie (Peterson) Delaney; and 33 great nieces and nephews, most he baptized and will miss him dearly.
Father Bill was also close with cousins, John and Regina Leone, Barb and Steve Imel, Steve and Judy Ashcraft, Mary Kay McKibbin, Sue and Tom Marshall, and Jack Shea; Charlene Witka from the Cathedral Community; and three special ladies who have supported him over the years, Kitty Jenkins, Jeri Spaulding, and Marsha Bennet. He was also close with the Lukens and the Debonos and many other friends and family too numerous to mention.
Several virtual services have been held in his memory and masses said daily by his fellow clergy. He will be laid to rest with a private service at Calvary Catholic Cemetery Priest’s Circle, Indianapolis, Indiana. A full Mass and Celebration of Father Munshower’s life will occur at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 7243 E 10th St, Indianapolis, Indiana at a later date when we can gather safely.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in Father Bill’s memory may be made to Saint Meinrad Archabbey, 200 Hill Dr, Saint Meinrad, Indiana 47577, https://www.saintmeinrad.edu/support-us or St. John’s University, PO Box 2000, 2850 Abbey Plaza, Collegeville, Minnesota 56234, https://www.csbsju.edu/about/saint-johns-university.
The family would like to thank the staff of Westminster Village North for their kind care of Father Bill.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.feeneyhornakshadeland.com for the Munshower family.
Published in the The Indianapolis Star from Apr. 17 to Apr. 19, 2020
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The Criterion – April 24, 2020
Father William Munshower built community in two parishes for 41 years
By Sean Gallagher
Father William Munshower, a retired priest of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, died on April 14 at the Westminster Village North retirement community in Indianapolis. He was 88.
Because of measures prohibiting large public gatherings due to the coronavirus pandemic, a private committal service was celebrated at the priests’ circle at Calvary Cemetery in Indianapolis. A memorial Mass for Father Munshower is expected to be celebrated at a later time.
In a 2008 interview with The Criterion on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his ordination as a priest, Father Munshower described what was at the heart of his priestly life and ministry.
“Being a part of a Christian gathering, having a hand in the gathering and participating in that gathering, whether it be in the Eucharist or a parish picnic,” he said. “A priest comes together with people and inspires them, encourages them and prays with them. I think of myself in those terms.”
Before retiring from active ministry in 2015, Father Munshower spent 41 years taking part in such gatherings and inspiring people in faith in two Indianapolis faith communities: Holy Spirit Parish and St. Thomas Aquinas Parish.
Father Clement Davis, who served as associate pastor with Father Munshower at Holy Spirit from 1979-83, saw how much he enjoyed making connections with parishioners.
“He was so personable and genuinely interested in everybody and everybody’s story and family,” said Father Davis, who in retirement serves as senior parochial vicar of St. Bartholomew Parish in Columbus and sacramental minister of Holy Trinity Parish in Edinburgh. “He knew his parishioners. It was amazing to me how he would often know people’s grandparents. It was amazing to me how he could keep so much of that in his head.”
The motivation behind making these connections for Father Munshower wasn’t simply on the human level, said Father Davis.
“He not only believed, but he celebrated that we are the body of Christ, the people of God,” Father Davis said. “His delight was in getting to know as many of these people and being a part of their lives. He genuinely loved serving as a pastor.”
Father Patrick Beidelman was one of the many people Father Munshower served as pastor at Holy Spirit. He was only about 9 months old when Father Munshower began his ministry at the Indianapolis East Deanery faith community.
From his childhood through his time in college, Father Beidelman admired his pastor, who was in part an inspiration of his own priestly vocation.
Serving now as the executive director of the archdiocesan secretariat for worship and evangelization, Father Beidelman sees a connection between Father Munshower’s love of relationships with the Church’s worship and proclamation of the Gospel.
“The principal prayers of the Mass are that we might be one with God and one with one another,” he said. “I think Father Bill Munshower did that for thousands of people, probably tens of thousands of people throughout his life in ministry.
“He saw the importance of people being in communion with one another, working with each other to build the kingdom of God. That community building, I think, served the faith of many people over the years.”
One of those whom it served was Manny Debono, a member of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish who experienced Father Munshower’s ministry there in the 1960s and later in the 1990s and 2000s.
Debono, 83, saw no difference between the way Father Munshower acted outside of worship and parish ministry and how he interacted with people in ordinary social settings.
“There was a continuity there,” Debono said. “If he was in your home or talking during a meal, it was the same Bill Munshower that had given you Communion the Sunday before. He was just a good man who loved people and life. He projected that throughout his own personal life.”
That continuity, Father Beidelman said, also extended to meditating on how the Gospel applied to contemporary issues.
As far back as his time in high school, Father Munshower protested racial inequality in society, including participating in Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1963 March on Washington.
“You got the sense that he was always pondering something,” Father Beidelman said. “When you’d meet him, you were often brought into that pondering. He didn’t always get to an answer or a resolution. But he could ponder with the best of them.”
Father Munshower also had a “special love for the lost sheep among us,” Father Beidelman recalled.
“He made God approachable,” he said. “That approachability made folks, who often would feel intimidated by priests or the Church or even faith and spirituality in general, to feel really connected to God through him.”
William Glenn Munshower was born on Feb. 23, 1932, in Indianapolis to William and Catherine (Ashcroft) Munshower. He grew up as a member of St. Anthony Parish and the former Holy Cross Parish.
After graduating from Cathedral High School in Indianapolis in 1950, he attended St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., before becoming an archdiocesan seminarian and receiving priestly formation at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in St. Meinrad.
Archbishop Paul C. Schulte ordained Father Munshower a priest on May 3, 1958, at the Archabbey Church of Our Lady of Einsiedeln in St. Meinrad. Father Munshower celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving the following day at St. Anthony Church in Indianapolis.
His first pastoral assignment was as associate pastor of St. Paul Parish in Tell City, where he served from 1958-63. He then ministered as associate pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Indianapolis from 1963-71.
From 1971-73, he was the chaplain of the Newman Center at Indiana State University in Terre Haute.
In 1973, Father Munshower became pastor of Holy Spirit Parish in Indianapolis, where he would continue in ministry until 1994.
During that time, he also served as administrator of St. Agnes Parish in Nashville from 1981-85.
After a sabbatical, Father Munshower returned to St. Thomas Aquinas Parish as pastor, serving there from 1994-2006, at which time he was granted permission to retire.
In retirement, Father Munshower ministered as a part-time sacramental minister at St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Indianapolis from 2009-15 and at Cathedral High School.
Surviving are his sister, Anne Delany, and brother, John Munshower.
Memorial contributions may be sent to Saint Meinrad Archabbey, 200 Hill Drive, St. Meinrad, IN 47577, www.saintmeinrad.edu/support-us, or to St. John’s University, P.O. Box 2000, 2850 Abbey Plaza, Collegeville, MN 56234, www.csbsju.edu. † ” 1