Miriam Therese Winter

Miriam Therese Winter (born 1938) is an American Roman Catholic theologian, writer, composer, educator, and member of the Medical Mission Sisters. Born Gloria Winter in Passaic, New Jersey, she entered the Medical Mission Sisters as a teenager. Her musical gifts became an important part of her vocation during the years of Catholic liturgical renewal surrounding the Second Vatican Council, and her recordings and songs helped bring biblical, folk-influenced congregational music into wider use.

Winter studied music at The Catholic University of America and later pursued graduate work in religious education and liturgical studies, earning a doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary. At Hartford Seminary, now Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, she developed programs in liturgy, worship, and spirituality and later expanded that work through ecumenical, cross-cultural, feminist, and multifaith perspectives. Hartford International identifies her as Faculty Emerita and as a leader in transformative leadership and spirituality.

Her books and music frequently connect biblical prayer with the experience of women, communities living in poverty, and the church's responsibility for justice and peace. Among her best-known early recordings is Joy Is Like the Rain, and her writing ranges across biblical women, ritual, spirituality, mission, and what she calls the 'liturgy of life.' Her hymn texts often recast biblical canticles in language intended for congregational prayer and public worship.