Ed Shoener was ordained a permanent deacon in 2004 and serves at St. Peter's Cathedral in the Diocese of Scranton. He is a founding member of the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers, the Catholic Institute of Mental Health Ministry at the University of San Diego, and the Scranton Mental Health Ministry. He serves on the boards of the Council on Mental Illness, National Catholic Partnership on Disability, and Pathways to Promise. He earned a graduate certificate in spiritual direction from the Aquinas Institute of Theology.

Shoener is president of Shoener Environmental Consulting. He has a bachelor of science degree in environmental research management from Penn State University, where he also earned a master's degree in environmental protection control.

Shoener's family and friends founded The Katie Foundation after his daughter, Kathleen, died by suicide in 2016. The obituary he wrote for her went viral. The Shoeners live in Scranton, Pennsylvania.