Keith Ackerman

Keith Lynn Ackerman (born August 3, 1946) is an American Anglican bishop. Consecrated as a bishop for the Diocese of Quincy in the Episcopal Church, he is currently bishop vicar of the Anglican Diocese of Quincy of the Anglican Church in North America and assisting bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth.

Ackerman lives in Keller, Texas. He has worked part-time as a therapist, assists the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, and served as Bishop in Residence at St. Timothy's Church in Fort Worth until September, 2021. Before becoming a bishop, Ackerman was a curate at the Church of the Transfiguration in Freeport, Long Island, New York (1974–76), then as rector of St. Mary's Church in Charleroi, Pennsylvania (1976–1989), and then as rector of St. Mark's Church in Arlington, Texas (1989 - 1994). He was noted as a baseball pitcher there, and in 2005 he was inducted into the McKesport High School Hall of Fame. He attended Pennsylvania State University and the University of Pittsburgh while working full-time for the United States Steel Corporation - Duquesne Works. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Marymount College in Salina, Kansas, in 1971 while working at the St. Francis Boys Home in nearby Ellsworth. He also completed graduate studies in psychology under the supervision of Ronald C. Force of Salina, Kansas. He later received his Master of Divinity degree from Nashotah House seminary in 1974 and a Doctor of Divinity from the same institution in 1994. He has served as an adjunct professor and visiting lecturer at the Reformed Episcopal Seminary since 2011 and as an adjunct to Cranmer House Seminary in Dallas, Texas. He served from 1992 until 2020 as a member of the board of trustees (directors) of Nashotah House, serving for 10 years as vice-chairman of the board. In 2020 he was named an honorary trustee.

Ordained ministry Ackerman was ordained as a deacon in 1974 at the Chapel of St. Mary the Virgin at Nashotah House in Wisconsin and to the priesthood the same year in Freeport, Long Island, by Bishop William Davidson of the Diocese of Western Kansas. He served as a curate at the Church of the Transfiguration in Freeport, New York, and worked at the parochial school as an instructor, coach and counselor from 1974 to 1976. While in Long Island he did additional studies in chemical addiction and worked as a therapist. In 1976 he was called to be rector of St. Mary's Church, Charleroi, Pennsylvania, in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh.

In 1995, Ackerman welcomed and incorporated into the life of the Diocese, St. Benedict's Abbey, an Ecumenical, orthodox Monastic Order, located in Bartonville, Il. In 1999 the “Bartonville Agreement” was written as a model of the reunion of various Anglican Jurisdictions. Several of the monks served on the Diocesan staff. Ackerman serves as Bishop Visitor of the Order.

Post-retirement Ackerman served as bishop in residence at St. Timothy Anglo-Catholic church in Fort Worth, Texas until September 2021, when he was given additional responsibilities by the Bishop of Fort Worth, Ryan S. Reed.

Ackerman was previously (until 2012) the president of Forward in Faith North America, a conservative Anglo-Catholic movement operating in a number of provinces of the Anglican Communion. Forward in Faith is known for its support of traditional theology and values.

Ackerman served as superior-general of the American branch of the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament from 1995 - 2010. As a founding member of the Anglican Church in North America, upon the enthronement of the Ninth Bishop of Quincy, Ackerman was given the title Bishop Vicar in the Diocese of Quincy. His successor in that ACNA position is Juan Alberto Morales.

Ackerman serves as episcopal patron and member of the board of trustees of the North American branch of the Society of King Charles the Martyr.

In 2020, he served as interim bishop of the Diocese of the Southwest during the vacancy between Mark Zimmerman and Steven Tighe.

Writings Ackerman has been a prolific writer, penning weekly columns for the Bentleyville Courier (1979–1985) and the Benworth Times (1983–1985), a monthly column for the Arlington Daily News (1990–1994), and numerous articles for The Harvest Plain (1994–present), the newspaper of the Diocese of Quincy. He has also written several books, including To God be the Glory, a book co-written with his wife, Joann, which was published in 2001. He has recently written a children's books on the Old Testament and the Apocrypha.

Published books Why We Do What We Do: A Manual on the Eucharist, 1992, Dovetracts Publications The Work of the People: A Guide to the Eucharist, 1993, DoveTracts Publications To God be the Glory: Growing Towards a Healthy Church (with Joann Ackerman), 2001, Dovetracts Publications “Old Testament and Apocrypha Stories for Children,” 2022, The Parish Press