Henry Joseph Soenneker

Henry Joseph Soenneker (May 27, 1907—September 24, 1987) was an American Roman Catholic bishop who served as the second Bishop of Owensboro, Kentucky.

Biography

Henry Soenneker was born in Melrose, Minnesota, to Henry and Mary (née Wessel) Soenneker. He studied at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, from where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1930. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 26, 1934. He was then a curate at St. Anthony Church in St. Cloud until 1940, and also served as a high school teacher and chaplain at a V.A. hospital. He was chaplain to the Sisters of St. Francis at Little Falls from 1940 to 1948, and earned a Licentiate of Canon Law from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. in 1950. He later became spiritual director of St. John's Seminary in Collegeville.

On March 10, 1961, Soenneker was appointed the second Bishop of Owensboro by Pope John XXIII. He received his episcopal consecration on the following April 26 from Bishop Peter William Bartholome, with Bishops Francis Joseph Schenk and Joseph Maximilian Mueller serving as co-consecrators. He attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council between 1962 and 1965. After reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75, he resigned as bishop on June 30, 1982. He later died at age 80.