Walter P. Kellenberg
Encyclopedia
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).
, New York
, to Conrad and Elizabeth (née Kern) Kellenberg. He received his early education at the parochial school
of St. Anthony's Church, and attended Fordham Preparatory School
and Cathedral College
. He made his theological studies at St. Joseph's Seminary
in Yonkers
. He also took special courses in real estate, insurance, and business administration at Columbia University
.
He was ordained
to the priesthood
on June 2, 1928. 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. In 1934, he was transferred to St. Paul's Church in New York City
and appointed to the archdiocesan curia. 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.
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. He was named a papal chamberlain
in 1943, and served as secretary to Cardinal Francis Spellman from 1947 to 1950. He was later made chancellor (1947), domestic prelate
(1948), and moderator of the coordinating committee of the Archdiocesan Catholic Lay Organization (1951).
On August 25, 1953, Kellenberg was appointed auxiliary bishop
of New York and titular bishop
of Ioannina by Pope Pius XII
. 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
. 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. 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.
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. 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.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. He served as Bishop of Ogdensburg
Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg is a Roman Catholic diocese in New York. It was founded on February 15, 1872.On February 23, 2010, the Most Reverend Terry R...
(1954–57) and Bishop of Rockville Centre
Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre comprises the territory of Nassau and Suffolk counties in New York state, USA. Founded in 1957, this diocese was created from territory that once belonged to the Diocese of Brooklyn...
(1957–76).
Biography
Walter Kellenberg was born in the BronxThe Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, to Conrad and Elizabeth (née Kern) Kellenberg. He received his early education at the parochial school
Parochial school
A parochial school is a school that provides religious education in addition to conventional education. In a narrower sense, a parochial school is a Christian grammar school or high school which is part of, and run by, a parish.-United Kingdom:...
of St. Anthony's Church, and attended Fordham Preparatory School
Fordham Preparatory School
Fordham Preparatory School is a private Jesuit all-boys high school located in the Bronx, New York City, with an enrollment of approximately 950 students. It is located on the Rose Hill campus of Fordham University....
and Cathedral College
Cathedral Preparatory Seminary (Queens)
Cathedral Preparatory Seminary is a private, Roman Catholic high school and seminary in Elmhurst, Queens, New York. It is located within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn...
. He made his theological studies at St. Joseph's Seminary
St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie
St. Joseph's Seminary and College, sometimes referred to as Dunwoodie, after the Yonkers, New York neighborhood it is located in, is the major seminary of the Archdiocese of New York. Its primary mission is to form men for the priesthood in the Catholic Church...
in Yonkers
Yonkers, New York
Yonkers is the fourth most populous city in the state of New York , and the most populous city in Westchester County, with a population of 195,976...
. He also took special courses in real estate, insurance, and business administration at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
He was ordained
Holy Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
to the priesthood
Priesthood (Catholic Church)
The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church include the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....
on June 2, 1928. His first assignment was as a curate
Curate
A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...
at St. Mary's Church in the Rosebank
Rosebank, Staten Island
Rosebank is a neighborhood in the northeastern part of Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of New York City.Originally called Peterstown, the name "Rosebank" appears to have been first used to denote the neighborhood around 1880...
neighborhood of Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
, where he remained for six years. In 1934, he was transferred to St. Paul's Church in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and appointed to the archdiocesan curia. Within a year he became a curate at St. Patrick's Cathedral
St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York
The Cathedral of St. Patrick is a decorated Neo-Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral church in the United States...
, and was named assistant chancellor
Chancellor (ecclesiastical)
Two quite distinct officials of some Christian churches have the title Chancellor.*In some churches, the Chancellor of a diocese is a lawyer who represents the church in legal matters....
and secretary of the Archdiocesan Commission for Real Estate and Insurance in 1939.
He was temporary administrator of St. John the Baptist Church in Staten Island and St. Nicholas Church in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, and became vice-chancellor in 1942. He was named a papal chamberlain
Monsignor
Monsignor, pl. monsignori, is the form of address for those members of the clergy of the Catholic Church holding certain ecclesiastical honorific titles. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian monsignore, from the French mon seigneur, meaning "my lord"...
in 1943, and served as secretary to Cardinal Francis Spellman from 1947 to 1950. He was later made chancellor (1947), domestic prelate
Monsignor
Monsignor, pl. monsignori, is the form of address for those members of the clergy of the Catholic Church holding certain ecclesiastical honorific titles. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian monsignore, from the French mon seigneur, meaning "my lord"...
(1948), and moderator of the coordinating committee of the Archdiocesan Catholic Lay Organization (1951).
On August 25, 1953, Kellenberg was appointed auxiliary bishop
Auxiliary bishop
An auxiliary bishop, in the Roman Catholic Church, is an additional bishop assigned to a diocese because the diocesan bishop is unable to perform his functions, the diocese is so extensive that it requires more than one bishop to administer, or the diocese is attached to a royal or imperial office...
of New York and titular bishop
Titular bishop
A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese.By definition a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop the tradition of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches is that he be ordained for a specific place...
of Ioannina by Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
. He received his episcopal
Bishop (Catholic Church)
In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders and is responsible for teaching the Catholic faith and ruling the Church....
consecration
Consecration
Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service, usually religious. The word "consecration" literally means "to associate with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different groups...
on the following October 5 from Cardinal James Francis McIntyre, with Bishops William Scully
William Scully (bishop)
William Aloysius Scully was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Albany from 1954 until his death in 1969.-Biography:...
and Joseph Francis Flannelly
Joseph Francis Flannelly
Joseph Francis Flannelly was an American clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York from 1948 to 1969.-Biography:...
serving as co-consecrators
Consecrator
Consecrator is a term used in the Roman Catholic Church to designate a bishop who ordains a priest to the episcopal state. The term is often used in Eastern Rite Churches and in Anglican communities. The term "Principal Consecrator" is used to designate the primary bishop who ordains a new bishop...
. Three months later, following the transfer of Bishop Bryan Joseph McEntegart
Bryan Joseph McEntegart
Bryan Joseph McEntegart was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Ogdensburg , Rector of the Catholic University of America , and as Bishop of Brooklyn .-Biography:Bryan McEntegart was born in New York City to Patrick and Katherine McEntegart...
to the Catholic University of America
The Catholic University of America
The Catholic University of America is a private university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by the U.S. Catholic bishops...
, he was named the sixth Bishop of Ogdensburg
Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg is a Roman Catholic diocese in New York. It was founded on February 15, 1872.On February 23, 2010, the Most Reverend Terry R...
on January 19, 1954. He remained in Ogdensburg for three years, when he was appointed the first Bishop
Ordinary
In those hierarchically organised churches of Western Christianity which have an ecclesiastical law system, an ordinary is an officer of the church who by reason of office has ordinary power to execute the church's laws...
of the newly-erected Diocese of Rockville Centre
Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre comprises the territory of Nassau and Suffolk counties in New York state, USA. Founded in 1957, this diocese was created from territory that once belonged to the Diocese of Brooklyn...
on April 16, 1957.
Between 1962 and 1965, he attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
. Shortly before reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75, he resigned as bishop on May 3, 1976. Kellenberg died from a heart attack at Mercy Hospital in Rockville Centre, aged 84.
Kellenberg Memorial High School
Kellenberg Memorial High School
Kellenberg Memorial High School is a Roman Catholic college-preparatory school in Uniondale, Long Island, New York. Kellenberg is the second Marianist school on Long Island and prides itself on high academic standards combined with a strong focus on faith....
in Uniondale is named in his honor.