Walter Philip Kellenberg (June 3, 1901—January 11, 1986) was an American clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Ogdensburg (1954–57) and Bishop of Rockville Centre (1957–76).
Walter Kellenberg was born in the Bronx, New York, to Conrad and Elizabeth (née Kern) Kellenberg.[1] He received his early education at the parochial school of St. Anthony's Church, and attended Fordham Preparatory School and Cathedral College.[2] He made his theological studies at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers.[1] He also took special courses in real estate, insurance, and business administration at Columbia University.[2]
He was ordained to the priesthood on June 2, 1928.[3] His first assignment was as a curate at St. Mary's Church in the Rosebank neighborhood of Staten Island, where he remained for six years.[2] In 1934, he was transferred to St. Paul's Church in New York City and appointed to the archdiocesan curia.[2] Within a year he became a curate at St. Patrick's Cathedral, and was named assistant chancellor and secretary of the Archdiocesan Commission for Real Estate and Insurance in 1939.[2]
He was temporary administrator of St. John the Baptist Church in Staten Island and St. Nicholas Church in Manhattan, and became vice-chancellor in 1942.[2] He was named a papal chamberlain in 1943, and served as secretary to Cardinal Francis Spellman from 1947 to 1950.[1] He was later made chancellor (1947), domestic prelate (1948), and moderator of the coordinating committee of the Archdiocesan Catholic Lay Organization (1951).[1]
On August 25, 1953, Kellenberg was appointed auxiliary bishop of New York and titular bishop of Ioannina by Pope Pius XII.[3] He received his episcopal consecration on the following October 5 from Cardinal James Francis McIntyre, with Bishops William Scully and Joseph Francis Flannelly serving as co-consecrators.[3] Three months later, following the transfer of Bishop Bryan Joseph McEntegart to the Catholic University of America, he was named the sixth Bishop of Ogdensburg on January 19, 1954.[3] He remained in Ogdensburg for three years, when he was appointed the first Bishop of the newly-erected Diocese of Rockville Centre on April 16, 1957.[3]
Between 1962 and 1965, he attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council. Shortly before reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75, he resigned as bishop on May 3, 1976.[3] Kellenberg died from a heart attack at Mercy Hospital in Rockville Centre, aged 84.
Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale is named in his honor.
| Preceded by First |
Bishop of Rockville Centre (N.Y.) 1957–1976 |
Succeeded by John R. McGann |