Ernest Leo Unterkoefler

Ernest Leo Unterkoefler (August 17, 1917 – January 4, 1993) was an American Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Charleston from 1964 to 1990.

[4] He received his episcopal consecration at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Richmond on February 22, 1962, from Archbishop Egidio Vagnozzi, with Bishops Vincent Waters and Joseph Hodges serving as co-consecrators.

[5] Between 1962 and 1965, he attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council in Rome, where he served as secretary of the American delegation of bishops.

[4] An active participant in the civil rights movement, he worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and ended racial segregation in all Catholic institutions in the diocese.

[3] In a 1985 interview, he said that his greatest satisfaction was in ordaining new priests, but also expressed his concern that a materialistic culture was making it more difficult to attract young men to the priesthood.