Retired Bishop Keith Ackerman returns to central Illinois

From Peoria-

Bishop Vicar of Quincy Keith Ackerman once again lit up smiles of parishioners at Christ Church Limestone where he performed service Sunday morning.

Ackerman, the retired eighth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy for the Anglican Church in North America, came back to the Hanna City church after current Bishop Juan Alberto Morales of Quincy asked him to return to the area for a diocene convention.

Ackerman spoke about the importance of giving thanks to God, family and friends.
"What a joy it is to come home," Ackerman said to the congregation of close to 50 devotees. "And now I've come to say thank you to all of you."

From 1994, Ackerman served as Bishop of Quincy and as Chaplain to the Peoria Chiefs until he retired in 2009. Since then, he has been living in Keller, Texas practicing his Spanish and working two days a week as a therapist in inner-city Dallas. He is also working on a new prayer book and helps the Bishop of Fort Worth.

Read more:

http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1343103122/Retired-Bishop-Keith-Ackerman-returns-to-central-Illinois#ixzz2hhB16FNU

P.B. Explains Bishop Ackerman’s ‘Renunciation’

From the Living Church-

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has written to bishops of the Episcopal Church about her response to the Rt. Rev. Keith Ackerman, Bishop of Quincy, resigned.

The Presiding Bishop referred again to Bishop Ackerman’s two letters to her as a renunciation of his orders “based on his written submission to me describing his intention to function as a bishop in the Diocese of Bolivia, in the Province of the Southern Cone and requesting that he be ‘transferred’ to that church and thus out of the Episcopal Church.”

“It is also based on his public participation in, and signature on a document affirming, the election of Robert Duncan as ‘archbishop’ of [the Anglican Church in North America],” she wrote.

“We have been and will be consistent regarding our canons, which clearly state that the Episcopal Church can accept the ministry of a bishop of the Episcopal Church functioning temporarily in another province of the Anglican Communion, when it is clear that that province does not seek to undermine or replace the ministry of this church,” she wrote.

The Presiding Bishop did not cite any specific canons that she applied to Bishop Ackerman’s request.

She contrasted Bishop Ackerman’s request with the transfer of the Rt. Rev. Mark MacDonald, Bishop of Alaska, resigned, and a former assisting bishop of the Episcopal Church in Navajoland, who is now the Anglican Church of Canada’s first National Indigenous Bishop.

As Bishop MacDonald’s work in Canada becomes permanent, she wrote, “his loyalty will have to be to the Anglican Church of Canada, rather than the Episcopal Church, and a recognition of his renunciation of orders in this church will be necessary.”

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/10/22/pb-explains-bishop-ackermans-renunciation

Bishop Ackerman Responds to ‘Renunciation'

From the Living Church-

The Rt. Rev. Keith Ackerman expressed dismay on Monday that the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church has described him as renouncing his orders as a bishop. Bishop Ackerman resigned from the Diocese of Quincy in November 2008.

“I did so for reasons of physical, spiritual and emotional distress, related to the ongoing demise of the Episcopal Church,” he said in a statement that he read at the beginning of a conference call arranged by Anglicans United, which is based in Dallas, Texas.

Now that Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has described him as renouncing his ministry, “I cannot go back to the church of my childhood and perform a funeral,” Bishop Ackerman said. “There has been absolutely no pastoral concern or pastoral care.”

Bishop Ackerman said he would not have responded to the Presiding Bishop’s actions if she had not gone public with the matter. He said that publicity prompted many people to ask whether he had indeed renounced his orders as a bishop.

“For me, this is not a matter of whether I’m in the Episcopal Church or not in the Episcopal Church. I want to be obedient to the call on my life,” he said, adding that his mother had dedicated him to God while he was still in her womb.

The bishop said he had sent two handwritten letters to the Presiding Bishop, the first of which said that he did not write in order to renounce his ministry. Instead, Bishop Ackerman had been invited to serve as a U.S.-based bishop for the Diocese of Bolivia, without a vote in its House of Bishops. Bishop Ackerman requested a transfer to that diocese.

Bishop Ackerman said he wanted his correspondence with the Presiding Bishop to be honorable and discreet, and he wanted to continue ministry to Episcopalians in the dioceses of Quincy and Springfield.

“If this happens to me when I’ve tried to do this above board, what happens to those who have not voted to work within the system?” he said. “I’m concerned that they’re also going to be treated with a lack of love. I don’t want anyone else to be mistreated.”

Bishop Ackerman said he has heard from the Diocese of Bolivia regarding the Presiding Bishop’s actions. “Having heard from the Diocese of Bolivia, I understand that I’m a priest in good standing in that diocese,” he said.

Bishop Ackerman said he is troubled by the Episcopal Church’s apparent inability to transfer bishops peaceably to other provinces of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

“It must see itself as highly independent,” he said. “If orders are not universal in the Anglican Communion, they cease to be catholic in the full sense of the word. … The Episcopal Church does not own the ministry of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.”

Neva Rae Fox, the Episcopal Church’s program officer for public affairs, said the Presiding Bishop was unlikely to respond to Bishop Ackerman’s remarks.

“I do not know if the Presiding Bishop has seen Keith Ackerman’s statement, nor do I know if he has sent any correspondence to the Presiding Bishop,” she wrote in response to a request for comment. “I do not anticipate that the Presiding Bishop will have a statement.”

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/10/19/bishop-ackerman-responds-to-renunciation

Bishop Ackerman Accepts Call to Springfield

From the Living Church-

The Rt. Rev. Keith L. Ackerman, who resigned last month as Bishop of Quincy, will serve as an assisting bishop in the neighboring Diocese of Springfield. The Rt. Rev. Peter H. Beckwith, Bishop of Springfield, said the Presiding Bishop’s office had been notified that the new position would become effective Dec. 1.

Bishop Ackerman’s resignation came a week before an overwhelming majority of delegates to the annual synod of the Diocese of Quincy voted to leave The Episcopal Church and to affiliate with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone, based in Argentina.

Appointments to assistant bishop positions require consent from the annual synod of the diocese and a majority of the House of Bishops, but the position of assisting bishop, which is not defined in the canons and constitution of The Episcopal Church, is at the discretion of individual diocesan bishops unless otherwise constrained by local diocesan bylaws.

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2008/12/3/bishop-ackerman-accepts-call-to-springfield

More on Bishop Ackerman

Episcopal News Service story on Keith Ackerman

Shortly before members of the Diocese of Quincy's governing synod are expected to consider voting to leave the Episcopal Church, diocesan Bishop Keith Ackerman announced his retirement, effective November 1.
The announcement was made October 29 in a news release from the standing committee of the diocese, the governing body that has been serving as the ecclesiastical authority since early August when Ackerman began a sabbatical. The sabbatical was to conclude November 1.

"Bishop Ackerman has reached this decision after much thought and prayer. The bishop and his wife, Jo, conferred with his physicians, many trusted friends and the standing committee before making this decision," the release said.

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_102055_ENG_HTM.htm

Bishop Ackerman to Resign Saturday

From The Living Church- Keith is a good friend and he will be in our prayers.

The Rt. Rev. Keith L. Ackerman, Bishop of Quincy since 1994, has informed the diocesan standing committee of his intention to resign effective Nov. 1, one week before the annual synod votes for a second and final time to leave The Episcopal Church and realign with another Anglican province.

The timing of his resignation announcement comes after much thought and prayer, as well as consultation with his physicians, family and friends, according to the Rev. John Spencer, diocesan media officer and vicar of St. Francis’ Church, Dunlap, Ill. Fr. Spencer said Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was sent news of Bishop Ackerman’s resignation plans this morning.

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2008/10/30/bishop-ackerman-to-resign-saturday