Henry Joseph Soenneker (May 27, 1907—September 24, 1987) was an American Roman Catholic bishop.
Henry Soenneker was born in Melrose, Minnesota, to Henry and Mary (née Wessel) Soenneker.[1] He studied at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, from where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1930.[1] He was ordained to the priesthood on May 26, 1934.[2] 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.[1] 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.[1] He later became spiritual director of St. John's Seminary in Collegeville.[1]
On March 10, 1961, Soenneker was appointed the second Bishop of Owensboro, Kentucky, by Pope John XXIII.[2] 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.[2] 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.[2] He later died at age 80.
| Preceded by Francis Ridgley Cotton |
Bishop of Owensboro 1961—1982 |
Succeeded by John Jeremiah McRaith |