Closer to home, Ackerman has dealt with a sparsely populated Episcopal diocese that hasn't hemorrhaged membership but also hasn't grown much, either.

Through it all, Keith Quinciensis - the title is a Latin rendition of Quincy - says he has tried to focus on furthering the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Diocese of Quincy is celebrating those 10 years of efforts with events starting today and culminating with a Mass at 6 p.m. Tuesday at St. Paul Cathedral, 3601 N. North St., Peoria.

While Ackerman is mostly positive about his time here, he admits to a few frustrations.

He had hoped for increased membership numbers in the diocese by now; it was a common experience for him in the churches he pastored before coming here, he said. The diocese stands at about 2,800 members in 24 parishes and missions.

He also had expected his position to be more visible in the community, though he admits he could have been more aggressive in getting involved with Peoria.

And he regrets how the Episcopal Church, embroiled in the controversy over church order and homosexuality, is perceived by nonmembers.

"If you would ask any person about the Episcopal Church, it would be a caricature," he said. "I bite my tongue a great deal. I've learned I have to spend a great more time in prayer.
"I'm at the point of thinking being bishop is one of the loneliest things in the world."

But there have been more positive points for Ackerman than frustrations.

He has been "overwhelmed by how many gifts have been given to the leadership of this diocese," referring to priests, deacons and lay people. And he has been able to remain on good terms with clergy and lay members of the diocese and ECUSA with whom he disagrees on issues.

"Since I'm not an issues-oriented person by nature, I have made it very clear from the beginning I was called to be bishop of every person in the diocese," he said one recent Friday morning in the living room of his modest but warm Peoria home. "The only people I've had difficulties with are people who have not had the chance to get to know me."

That doesn't mean compromise, though.

"The Gospel imperative is to treat each person with respect, dignity and love, but never compromise, being able to speak the truth. But it's easy to fall into the trap of a self-righteous style as opposed to a style of humility."

While Ackerman may say he's not an issues-oriented person, the issues tend to find him.

Even his election in early 1994 was the result of early retirement by Bishop Edward MacBurney, who said he wanted to give Quincy what may have been one last chance to elect a bishop opposed to women's ordination as priests.

That immediately put Ackerman in the cross hairs of those locally and nationally who want Quincy and other dioceses to change their ordination policies.

With the ascendancy of the homosexual issue, though, the woman priest issue has faded. But in that controversy, Ackerman has become known as someone who reaches out to people on both sides of a conflict without compromising his own views.

"Even though we're not in the same place in terms of some of the issues facing the church, we get along well, which I hope can be an example for the people in the church in that we don't always have to agree to respect one another," said Bishop William Persell of the Diocese of Chicago.

Despite pressing national and international issues, though, the majority of Ackerman's time has been spent in and on the Diocese of Quincy.

A native of Pittsburgh who also spent much of his time as a priest in Texas, Ackerman didn't know much about the Midwest when he and his wife, Joann, arrived.

"I had never thought much about people being underemployed and unemployed in this part of the country," he said.

While he dealt with blue-collar workers in Pennsylvania struggling with changing economic conditions, here he has had to deal with farmers undergoing difficulties. "It's a different type of self-esteem," he said, one involving a history of family ownership and trades.

He also said he has worked closely with priests on how to minister to the under- and unemployed and is writing a book on the topic.

Several priests said they appreciated Ackerman's involvement.

"He constantly works to make both the clergy and laity of the diocese know they are loved and respected," the Rev. John Blossom of St. Paul Cathedral said. "Bishop Ackerman brings a 'can-do' attitude into every aspect of his service. He came into a small, struggling diocese 10 years ago and through personal energy and missionary zeal gave his people a vision of what the church really could be."

"He is the reason I came to this diocese," said the Rev. Michael McKinnon, rector at the Church of St. Andrew the Apostle, who met Ackerman at Nashotah House seminary in Wisconsin.

"I found him to be evangelical, to really understand what it means to make Jesus Christ known, to have a great love for the Scriptures. I found him to be charismatic, to be Spirit-filled, not afraid to be alive in the Spirit. I have also found him to be orthodox, upholding the traditional faith of the church.
"All this and Anglican wrapped up in one," McKinnon said. "That was very attractive."

McKinnon also said the bishop is eminently accessible.

"He's very available not only to his diocese but his clergy," McKinnon said. "All of us have his emergency pager. We can reach him at any time."

END