Victor Hermann Balke

infobox bishopbiog
name = Victor Hermann Balke


religion=Roman Catholic Church
See = Crookston
Title = Bishop Emeritus of Crookston
Period = 2 September 1976 — 30 November 2007
Predecessor = Kenneth Joseph Povish
Successor = Michael Joseph Hoeppner
ordination = 24 May 1958
bishops = None
post = None | date of birth = Birth date and age|1931|9|29|df=y
place of birth = Meppen, Illinois |

Victor Hermann Balke (29 September 1931) was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Crookston from 1976-2007.

Born in Meppen, Illinois (in Calhoun County), his parents were Elizabeth Knese and Bernard Balke, Sr. He attended St. Joseph Grade School in Meppen as well as the Monterey Grade School, and graduated from Hardin Community High School in 1949. In September 1949, he entered the seminary and was ordained a priest on 24 May 1958, by Bishop William A. O’Connor for the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.

Following his ordination in Springfield, Balke served as assistant pastor at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception for four years and was chaplain at St. Joseph Home for the Aged. Later he was named procurator, and then rector of the Diocesan Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield. He served on the Matrimonial Tribunal as synodal judge and defender of the bond. He was also the chairman of the Diocesan Commission on Ecumenism and secretary-treasurer of the Priests’ Council.infobox bishopstyles
name=Victor Hermann Balke
dipstyle=The Most Reverend
offstyle=Your Excellency
relstyle=Monsignor
deathstyle=not applicable | He was appointed Bishop of Crookston by Pope Paul VI on 3 July 1976, and was consecrated the sixth bishop of that diocese on 2 September 1976. After being the Bishop of Crookston for 31 years, and one day before his 76th birthday, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Michael Joseph Hoeppner as the new Bishop of Crookston. Bishop Balke will remain at the helm of the diocese as apostolic administrator until Bishop-elect Hoeppner is installed on 30 November 2007.